


HLVRAIE (Half Life VR but the AI is Extracted)

by Stoffig98



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Anxiety, Benrey is a virus, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Eldritch, Eldritch Benrey, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gay, Gen, Gore, HLVRAI, HLVRAIE, Half-Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware, Human/Monster Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major character death - Freeform, No Smut, POV Alternating, Post-Canon, Swearing, Violence, Virus Benrey, frenrey, possible gore, soft, software gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 46,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25637269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoffig98/pseuds/Stoffig98
Summary: It's been almost a week since Gordon received the final message from Coomer. The idea of being able to extract his friends from the game was an insane Idea but it was so insane that Gordon was willing to try it. He didn't want the science team to suffer in darkness alone when he had bonded with them on such a personal level and besides, he owed them a better home then the polygon world they were so used to. Nothing bad could happen by bringing AI into the real world right?...*Just a small explanation, Gordon is the actual player, VR has evolved to the point where facial scanning and full body scanning is possible for games in this "AU"*I also haven't written fan fiction in years, I hope it's not horrible* https://linktr.ee/Stoffig98
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Boomer - Relationship, Bubby & Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Frenrey - Relationship, Tommy Coolatta & Darnold
Comments: 60
Kudos: 337





	1. Gordon Freeman in the Flesh

The final message from Doctor Coomer sat in the back of Grodon’s mind for almost a week while he researched if there was even a possibility that he could Extract his friends from the game. So much was possible in the new age, there was facial scanning for games, a cure for cancer, and even catgirls had been successfully created in Japan as cringy as it was so, shouldn’t there be a way to make ingame characters into real life people? Hadn’t some 50 year old neck beard found a way to bring his favorite character from League of Legends into the real world yet? Maybe. Gordon had only searched on the surface but he knew. He knew there was some machine out there that could bring his friends to life. The only logical thing Gordon could think of doing was going to the dark web. He didn’t know how legal doing something like he was trying to do was but it was worth a try.  
He spent hours upon hours searching everyday. At first, there wasn’t much. He usually found people selling stolen androids or some new computer parts that totally didn’t include viruses that would kill your whole system but finally he found something. Exactly a week from when he received Doctor Coomers final message he found a guy who seemed to know what he was doing. It was a sketchy website, like the backrooms of craigslist for people selling drugs, illegal weapons, there were even a few hitman listings available for those who needed. The listing was simple, It was a picture of what looked to be a prop from the Star Trek series but the words “AI extractor definitely caught his eyes. Gordon investigated the listing further. 

‘AI extractor for sale, used only once, works well:  
I made this machine myself after I lost my wife. Money was too tight to figure out a way to save her brain so I created an AI version of her by myself as a way of Mourning my inability to save her. Having her on a computer screen wasn’t enough for me after a year though, so I researched making her real. Maybe there was some insane way to make a machine that could pull atoms from its surroundings and make a living, breathing, human. I won’t get into the science behind it because I honestly don’t understand how I got it to work.  
I will not talk the pricing down from $50,000.  
Please email me at the email listed below, only serious inquiries, my name's North.’ 

Gordon rubbed his face, he knew he could afford it. He had been saving for college if streaming didn’t end up working out for him. He had about $63,000 set aside, the money was mostly from his parents. If this worked the damn science team better be happy as hell to see him again. Gordon went to his email and swiftly typed something up to send to the guy.  
‘Dear North, is this still available? I am able to pay in cash.’  
He sat refreshing his email page for a few minutes before he got a reply back,  
‘Cash is perfect. It is still available, do you have a truck? It folds pretty compact, I made it to be portable.’  
‘Yes, is it too late to pick it up tonight?’ Gordon glanced at the time as he hit send, 3 AM.  
‘Tonights fine actually, I just want this thing out of my hair.’ Another message followed with his address.  
‘Okay North, I’ll see you soon.’   
Gordon got up from his computer desk and slightly fixed his ponytail after slipping on a black hoodie. Gordon stared at the envelope of cash he had in his dresser for a minute, contemplating his sudden decision. His mind was too sleep deprived to be rational so he took the envelope and grabbed the $50,000. He looked at himself in his closet mirror and hoped he didn’t smell or look like a neck beard, he hadn’t showered in about 3 days. He grabbed his truck keys and looked at the pistol that sat on his dresser. He didn’t want to frighten the guy by being armed but he had also never ordered off the deep web. Gordon grabbed his gun and put it in his waistband but before he left he heard his computer chime again. He quickly ran over to see it was an email from North with his number ‘Text me when you’re here and I’ll bring it out to you.’  
He plugged the number into his phone and then left. His mind was racing the whole ride over to the guys place. He was lucky this North guy lived in the same area as him. He prayed it was true and wasn't a sick trap or something. He drove for about half an hour before he found himself backing into the driveway of Norths’ house. It was a normal house but Gordon had honestly expected some weird abandoned shack in the middle of a run down suburb. Gordon pulled out his phone and sent an ‘I’m here’ text to North. Gordon sat, watching the front door of the house. After a few minutes, he saw the porch light turn on and the garage door open behind him. Gordon got out of his truck and walked towards the garage.   
North looked, normal. Gordon wasn’t expecting a clean shaven man in his late 30’s to step out of the garage in christmas pajamas in the middle of February but he also didn’t know what he was expecting. He relaxed a bit and gave the man a smile who politely returned it.  
“Mornin.” North said.  
“Morning.” Gordon said watching as North gabbed a dolly with what he assumed was the machine loaded on it. It was folded into an odd shape but it made it easier to carry. I guess you can't really fold a large, metal circle that has four metal poles attached to it that he assumed were scanners neatly.   
“Listen North, does it really work?” North chuckled, bringing it over to him.  
“Well, if the living proof wasn’t asleep upstairs I’d show you but yes. It does work. It took her only an hour to be real.” His voice seemed to trail off as he smiled to himself.  
“Here.” Gordon handed him the envelope of cash and North seemed shocked as he took it.  
“I really wasn’t expecting you to be serious about this, Gordon. It’s Gordon right?” He put the envelope in his pocket.  
“Yup.” The two started to load the machine into the back of Gordon's truck.  
“What are your plans with it?” North asked as he closed the truck bed.  
“Well, I have a few friends I made. It’s a long, long story.” He rubbed the back of his neck, laughing a bit.   
“I hope it makes you as happy as it made me.” North handed him a manual and a power cable.   
“I typed the manual myself. If there are any issues, and I mean any, please text my number.” Gordon and North shook hands and Gordon nodded a tired thanks as he went back to the driver side of his truck. He sat for a moment after starting his truck, processing what he had just done, or what he was going to do. He drove home slowly, being cautious over bumps, his mind still racing about the whole situation. He backed into his driveway and spent about an hour trying to get the machine through his front door before he was successful. Gordon then worked through the early morning setting up the large machine in his bedroom and hooking it up to his computer. The machine seemed simple and straightforward, just upload the character file to the machine’s file and then wait. It seemed almost too simple, Gordon wasn’t too sure about the machine after reading how easy it was to make a literal human being so he kept his expectations low.  
Gordon opened the game files for his Half Life game and stared at the character files. At least Benrey had done something good for Gordons future and named the broken AI files. He stared at the files of his friends and noticed the Benreys file had nothing but an image and the basic AI skeleton of the actual Barney model. Maybe Benrey had been reset after his death. Maybe they could actually be friends. That was too much thinking for Gordon though and chose against loading Benrey first. He thought for a bit but decided to choose Coomer, he was the one who gave him the idea after all.   
So that’s what Gordon did. He dragged Coomers file to the machine file and watched the Machine turn on slowly. It was quiet, surprisingly, but god was it menacing. It looked about ready to open a portal to hell. Gordon prayed it wouldn’t as time went by.  
After about ten minutes, he couldn’t keep his eyes open. The adrenaline had worn off and he fell asleep, knowing that the machine was probably just a hunk of expensive metal that he’ll need to try and re-sell.


	2. Hello Gordon

"Hello Gordon!" Gordon groaned opening his eyes a bit, not able to see clearly since his glasses had fallen into his lap. He squinted a bit, "Good morning Coomer." he closes his eyes again to rest a bit more before it hits him. He sloppily threw on his glasses and sat up in his chair,

"Oh my god. Dr. Coomer?"

"Well, I believe so Gordon." Gordon stared at where Coomer sat on the machine in awe.

"How long have you been there?!"

"I only got here a moment ago Gordon." Gordon scoffed in amazement and stood up.

"Is this a dream Coomer? Am I that sleep deprived?"

"Well, sleep deprivation can make you hallucinate but I assure you I'm real Gordon."

Coomer stood and watched Gordon who cautiously approached him. In silence the two grabbed each others hands.

"Well Gordon it looks like you've been successful." Gordon studied their hands before pulling Coomer into a hug.

"Oh my god I missed you." Coomer smiled.

"I've missed you too Gordon. I'm glad my message reached you." Gordon pulled from the hug and sat on the base of the machine with Coomer.

"You're in one piece right? Nothing weird happened?"

"Well, other than feeling like I was being pulled apart a pixel at a time it was all normal from your computer to well, here." Coomer looked around, trying to fully process the fact he was outside of a computer screen.

"That sounds horrible Dr. Coomer... Are you in pain? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you even know what those words mean...?"

"No Gordon I'm perfectly fine! I do in fact understand those words. In the, well, game we know what hunger and thirst feel like. Especially thirst. I also did my research along with the others to learn how humans survive in case we got out of there. It was research that was clearly needed too Gordon!" Gordon nodded, still in complete shock the machine worked. It was a damn miracle.

"I'm just happy this machine worked Coomer."

"Oh did you make this Gordon? Amazing craftsmanship Gordon!" Gordon chuckled.

"Dr. Coomer I'm not a scientist in real life remember? I told you guys about my streaming career I've been working on."

"So that was real? We all thought you were pulling our legs!" He let out a laugh and put a hand on Gordons shoulder as he rolled his eyes.

"How about we try to get the others here Coomer." Gordon said getting up and going to the computer. Is it weird to show an AI the computer they've been stuck in? Gordon didn't know but hoped it didn't fuck something up. Gordon spent a bit explaining how he got the machine and what he's been doing the past week to try and extract the science team into his world.

"So I came from this?" He pointed at the monitor.

"Yeah, pretty much." Gordon opened the game files and navigated to the character files.

"And that's what our files look like? I thought they would be... bigger I guess Gordon."

"Oh, I didn't even know you guys knew you had files." Gordon dragged Bubby's file to the machine's file next and watched the machine start, Coomer standing by his side.

"This takes a bit so if you want I can show you around the basics of being human." Coomer smiled, "That would be nice Gordon."

Gordon thought for a bit, spinning in his chair a bit. He didn't know what the hell to even tell Coomer. The shock had formed into happiness that the machine worked and he hadn't done something that ended in complete and utter failure..

"Okay I'll uh, start with the basics. You can't respawn here. If you die in this world you're dead forever. So please for the love of god be careful. Headcrabs don't exist nor do any of those other creepy alien things we had to fight exist. The US Military won't be coming for us, at least I don't think so... but in this world they protect us and don't hunt us down." Gordon continued to ramble to Coomer who calmly listened. He explained sleep and basic hygiene and what jobs were and what shopping was.

"And I think that covers everything. Do you have any questions?"

"That all made perfect sense Gordon! You should be a teacher!" Gordon laughed a bit.

"I'll look into it Dr. Coomer." Coomer looked around Gordons room a bit, taking in the different scenery.

"So Gordon, do you in fact have a son?" Gordon laughed,

"No, that was just part of the ingame plot." Coomer smiled and nodded.

"Well I figured as much." Coomer sat on his bed and bounced a bit, not used to being able to feel different textures or feel the cushion of the bed underneath him. It was odd to feel warm, to breath, and to feel a heartbeat in his chest.

The two were drawn from their thoughts as the machine made a static noise and Bubby seemingly appeared out of thin air. His screaming also came with.

"If you put me in my fucking TUBE again I swear to god I-" He stopped when he opened his eyes and looked at Gordon and Coomer.

"Heyyy Bubby." Gordon laughed nervously.

"What the FUCK is this!" He yelled pointing at the machine and stepping off it.

"Coomer did you not tell the others that this might be happening after you sent me that message? Did you even, like, mention extraction to them?"

"Well Gordon, I might have forgotten to. But there's no time like the present!"

Bubby stood angrily looking at the two.

"Harold did you know about this?! Oh god put me back!" He looked around the machine, seeing if there was an option to go back.

Gordon opened his mouth to try and explain but Coomer put a finger to his lips as he stood and approached Bubby who was still looking around the machine.

"Why did you tell him to do this Harold! This is a horrible Idea! We're all going to relive hell!" Coomer sighed and grabbed Bubby's arm.

"Bubby, it isn't like that." Bubby turned to him and opened his mouth to yell but the odd warmth from Coomers hand caught his attention more than his pent up rage did.

"Harold. I can feel different things other than one texture." Gordon couldn't help but snicker to himself as he watched the two discover what being a human was like.

"Well Bubby, is it so bad now?" Coomer laughed a bit as they embraced each other warmly, enjoying the feeling of each other while Gordon Worked on Tommy and Sunkist since they were in the same file.

The next hour was spent explaining to Bubby what Gordon had told Coomer.

"This doesn't seem that bad but oh my god it hurt Gordon." Bubby complained, fixing his glasses.

"Now I don't think Gordon can control that Professor."

"Doctor."

"Professor."

"Doct- oh my god Tommy!" Bubby said pointing to Tommy and sunkist who were now on the machine.

"Hi mister Freeman!" He let out a gasp as he bent down to pet Sunkist. "Sunkist!" Gordon looked at the saint Bernard sized golden retriever in awe. The machine could make animals. Gordon especially didn't expect that to work.

"Thank you Mister Freeman! This is the best Christmas ever!"

"It's not Christmas Tommy but I'm still happy to have you and Sunkist here."

"Oh! And Dr. Coomer and Bubby are here! How wonderful we can all be a big happy family." He smiled proudly, sitting on the machine with Sunkist by his side.

Gordon smiled as he listened to them explain how to be a human to each other. He eventually trailed into his own thoughts though. He just fucking created 3 humans and a dog out of well, thin air. That was fucking insane, that had to be illegal.

"Hey guys I hate to interrupt but I need to explain something pretty serious to you guys..." The three turned to listen to him.

"What is it mister freeman?"

"Well. I just want to make sure you guys don't go around telling people you're from a computer video game okay? You need to pretend like you've always been human in public and around other people."

"Of course Mr. Freeman! And Sunkist will act like the perfect dog like he always does!

"Yeah, that's simple as long as it doesn't get us killed like some of your other plans." Bubby said, eyeing him a bit.

"Of course Gordon!"

Gordon sighed a bit and smiled solemnly. "Thanks guys..." He turned to his computer and stared at the character files, his eyes falling upon Benreys. The others hadn't brought him up yet so Gordon ultimately closed the file tab on his computer for now. He just wanted to be happy right now and now was not the time to worry about if Benrey could come back or if he would.

"Holy shit Gordon wasn't joking about the dumb streaming career?" Bubby laughed, earning a few small snickers from Coomer who had his head on his shoulder.

"Hey don't hate on it too much! Some of that money that got you guys here was from streaming." He shared a small laugh with them. It was weird still, the whole concept, but the lack of sleep Gordon had been getting seemed to put his mind at ease and kept him from overthinking.

"How about I show you guys where-"

"Wait Gordon, where's your HEV suit? We thought you lived in that thing." Bubby asked, glancing at Gordon from where he sat on his bed.

"Oh, I thought I mentioned that that too was just in the game also. There's no constant radiation or green shit just laying around for me to need something like that if I even had a real life HEV suit." The three nodded, Sunkist looked up a bit from Tommys lap and wagged his tail a bit as if he too understood what Gordon said.

"Um. Anyways, let me show you guys where you'll be staying." He stood and led the three to a spare room he had. It wasn't much, just a king sized bed and a pull out couch with a dresser and nightstand.

"Tommy does Sunkist... eat?" Tommy seemed to think for a bit before answering

"Yes! I feed him just like any other great dog!" Gordon nodded, a bit unsure."

"You'll have to take Sunkist on walks and I guess I'll have to instal a doggy door and-" He sighed. "I'll take care of all that but, are you guys hungry? Do you even know what hunger is I-" He rubbed his head and sighed.

"Now Gordon, you don't need to worry about us not understanding human customs. I'm sure you can answer our questions as they come, there's no need to explain this new lifestyle all at once." Gordon smiled and leaned on the door frame. Coomer was right, this was new for all of them and questions and answers would come with time. Bubby and Coomer stood fascinated at the window in the room that faced the backyard while Tommy and Sunkist sat on the couch. It was nice to have company around for once and it gave him a reason to have a spare room.

"Do you guys want me to like, make you some food to try? Something simple?"

"As long as it doesn't fucking kill us." Bubby growled and looked over to Gordon. Gordon sighed and smiled. Gordon didn't miss the constant aggressiveness of Bubby but, it was still oddly comforting to know nothing had changed.

"I'll go make something for you guys um, do you guys want anything in particular?"

"I'm sure we'll like anything you bring us mister Freeman." Tommy said with a smile while he played with Sunkists' fur. He seemed entranced by the softness of the dog and the fact he wasn't a flat picture anymore.

Gordon left the room and went to his kitchen to search his fridge, hoping the three didn't find something to break. He didn't even know what he had in his fridge since he hadn't ordered any groceries in a week since he had been locked up in his cave of a room and barely ate anything at all. He fixed his glasses and looked, go figure he had nothing to make for 3 other people so he ordered a large cheese pizza. Gordon turned back to his fridge and grabbed 4 Cokes for them to try. He knew back in Black Mesa they had all constantly drank soda but he didn't know if it actually tasted like something either. He didn't even know if they could taste.

He walked back to the room, thank god they hadn't broken anything. Tommy was still sitting with Sunkist, Commer was sitting with Bubby in the bed, his arm around him while they watched tv. Oh my god they figured out the tv.

"Hello Gordon!" Coomer said, turning to him.

"Hello Dr. Coomer." He smiled and sat with Tommy and Sunkist on the couch, putting the sodas on the table next to the couch.

"I ordered a pizza for us since I haven't gone grocery shopping in a week." He laughed a bit, embarrassed that he hadn't been taking care of himself.

"I also brought you guys soda." He walked two cans over to Coomer and Bubby who both took the cans and simultaneously opened the cans. Gordon started to recall a few things from Black Mesa like how Coomer would talk about being hungry and thirsty so maybe they did know about the basics of human survival but he shook the thoughts away. It really was best not to think about it so much.

"Thank you Gordon." Bubby said, sipping the soda.

"I've never tasted anything like it Gordon! Are you sure it's soda?" Gordon chuckled a bit as he went back to sitting with Tommy who had grabbed himself a can off the table.

"Soda can have different flavors Dr. Coomer! I read it on Wikipedia!" Tommy said chiming in.

"So we only had one flavor at Black Mesa when we could've had multiple? Those vending machines are a scam!" Bubby said, shaking his head.

Gordon sunk into the couch watching the three indulge in their soda.

"Hey how did you guys figure out the tv?"

"Oh! We had tv back at Black Mesa mister Freeman! With Blu Ray!"

Oh. Right. Gordon remembered the conversation they had about Blu Ray before he had gotten his hand cut off. Maybe it had just been a game but, it was still traumatizing. Coomer noticed the shift on Gordons face and chimed in,

"I don't think Gordon wants to talk about Blu Ray DVD right now Tommy."

"Oh, okay Doctor Coomer."

Gordon stood as he heard the doorbell. He was surprised Sunkist hadn't started barking but then again he was the perfect dog. He went to the door and took the pizza with a smile. The pizza guy must've been confused why he was ordering a pizza at 6 in the morning. A large one at that. Gordon closed the door and walked back to the spare room where the 3 were still watching some random tv show. Gordon didn't pay attention to what it was about and sat on the spare bed with the box. Tommy came to join, leaving Sunkist to sleep on the couch.

"It smells really good Mister Freeman!" Tommy said as Gordon opened the box. At Least Gordon didn't have to explain how to eat or grab a piece of pizza as they all helped themselves. Gordon smiled, enjoying the moment while they all ate and watched tv. Gordon didn't know the group could be so quiet but it was nice. It didn't require Gordon to think at all, he could just eat and enjoy his success.


	3. Skeleton Appreciation Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight gore warning! Also, this chapter does end on a cliff hanger! don't worry, nothing got cut off lol.

The rest of the morning went smoothly. They finished the pizza and the rest of Gordon’s soda stash and just enjoyed the day together. Gordon couldn’t help but excuse himself after a while though,  
“Listen guys, I need to go take a nap. I haven’t slept in about a week and I really, really need sleep.”  
“It’s okay Gordon, we’ll be quiet while you sleep.” Coomer said with a smile.  
“Just some base rules while I sleep, don’t answer the door, don’t break anything, and wake me up if you need anything, and I mean anything.” The three nodded in agreeance and Gordon smiled, leaving the room to go to his own. He threw off his hoodie, which he barely had the energy to do, and face planted into bed. He hadn’t felt his cool sheets in a week since he had been napping in his chair. He missed the comfort of his pile of pillows and the security of a blanket being wrapped around him. Gordon closed his eyes, happy to be able to sleep soundly knowing his friends were safe and real.  
Gordon couldn’t help his mind as he slipped into a deep dream state. He hadn’t had dreams since the last day he touched Half Life. Actually, not dreams, nightmares and fantasies of death but experiencing something like that in a video game would fuck anyone up just a bit right?   
The sky was an oddly familiar shade of bluish green when he opened his eyes. He knew he was dreaming. Gordon sat up and looked around and then looked at his hands. He guessed it, he was in the HEV suit which could only mean he was back in that weird alien void world. He planned for this. He planned to have dreams about the damn game. Gordon looked around the small floating piece of land he was sitting on. A sense of dread filled him, but why? Was it the fact he had to be in this fucking place again? He stood, trying to keep himself from shaking. At least he had both his hands. The dread loomed over him as he walked around. It felt like a weight attached to his ankles, like it was trying to keep him from seeing something he didn’t want to see.  
His eyes shifted upwards and noticed something odd. The classic purple and black pixels were forming ever so slightly at the top of the sky like a weird black hole. He shook his head and looked over the edge of the island he was on. Usually he’d feel comfortable just letting himself fall but dread held him back. He stepped away from the edge and looked around at the emptiness and the small blue bubble that came from behind a rock.  
Wait.  
Gordon stepped back a few feet. This wasn’t a dream. It was a goddamn nightmare. He reached around the HEV suit, trying to see if he had a gun or something but there was nothing and nothing came to him either as dread set into fear and panic. His back pressed into a large rock as he stared at the singular bubble. His heart was pounding and he couldn’t fucking breath. He felt him there, he knew it wasn’t some random alien creature that happened to have the Black Mesa Sweet Voice. A loud shattering sound broke the unsettling silence, Gordon looked up, the sky was breaking? Where there had once been missing textures there was now black void and shards of glass hurtling downwards.   
“Yo you made it for the fireworks!” The voice was distorted but Gordon knew it was Benrey. Gordon looked from the sky and to where Benrey stood at the opposite end of the small island. Was that really Benrey? Gordon thought his eyes had stopped working or maybe he lost his glasses at some point during the nightmare but bad vision doesn’t create something like that.  
Benrey was, melting? Like something out of an old movie about a radiation monster emerging from a bin of toxic waste, Benrey was melting to his bones. Bits of flesh still hung on to parts of his bones that were visible to Gordon. Benrey had his iconic grin on his face, baring all his teeth. Where Benrey’s flesh met his visible skeleton, it looked like candle wax that had dripped down the side of a long, fleshy candle. It was like his flesh had welded itself to his skeleton. The worst part was that his intestines were fucking spilling out of him. If Gordon really wanted to focus, and he did, he could see parts of Benrey’s nervous system that clung to his bones. Benrey obviously couldn’t move or he would fall apart.   
Gordon was too busy shitting himself at the gutty remains of Benrey that he didn’t notice that the pieces of glass were awfully close to the island. Gordon didn't notice until a piece of glass was lodged into his shoulder. He didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t scream, he couldn't make any sort of noise, he just fell to his knees, his eyes glued on Benrey. Anger quickly took over the pain though as his mind jumped around, remembering all the events and hell Benrey had caused him.  
“Get the fuck out of my head you sick fuck!” Gordon managed to yell, holding his shoulder. Glass fell like rain onto the island, large chunks barely missing Gordon and Benrey.  
“Yo I didn’t do this bro! You came back to this world! And you’re the one destroying it.” His voice got more distorted as he talked. If Gordon hadn’t been scared of Benrey before, he sure as hell was now. Why was his brain making him go through this? It couldn’t actually be Benrey right? His brain was just fucked from the trauma of that fucking game wasn’t it.  
Gordon stood with a groan and stared at Benrey who was now decaying at a faster pace.  
“I’m not doing anything Benrey, I have nothing to do with this.” Right?  
“Wha…?” Benrey glitched before he could continue. Gordon couldn’t explain what he saw from the glitch but it looked like a contortion of eyes and faces all melted together.  
“You did this bro! And I’m, I’m going to save myself dude! I’m going to come visit you!” His voice contorted as the rest of his flesh and clothing fell from his bones and only a skeleton stood in a mass of guts. The glass had slowed it’s breaking. The skeleton sang out a few deep blue notes but Gordon was too terrified to recall what it meant. I hate you. Gordon opened his mouth to yell some more profanity but he found himself choking on words as the skeleton glitched into a black mass of eyes and teeth that overtook Gordon's vision before he was thrusted into his world again.  
He gasped for breath and sat up. He was covered in sweat. It felt like something was choking him. Could video games really cause sleep paralysis? He grabbed a bottle of water from his nightstand and chugged the remaining amount of water that was in it. He struggled to swallow the water, it still felt like something was tied around his neck. He slipped on his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, slowly standing so he didn’t fall over. Gordon pulled out his phone and checked his phone, at least he slept about five hours. He slipped it back into his pocket and left his room to check on the others.  
Thank god, nothing was broken in the room. Tommy had fallen asleep with Sunkist on the bed, the pizza box was left empty on the bed and Coomer and Bubby were nowhere to be found. Gordon backed out of the room and walked down the hall to his living room and kitchen. He was glad to see the two scientists in his kitchen cooking.  
Oh go they were cooking.  
“Hello Gordon!” Coomer said, waving to him while Bubby read back of a box of noodles, grumbling at the instructions.  
“Hey Dr. Coomer. Are you guys- cooking?” Gordon asked, walking into the kitchen. The most the two had managed to do was bring the water to a boil.  
“We’re trying to but you have none of the fucking ingredients!” Gordon sighed at Bubby's response, reaching over and turning off the stove.   
“Yeah, I guess I should order some groceries.” He rubbed the back of his neck and pulled out his phone.  
“How did you two even figure out the stove?” Gordon grumbled, thinking of what he needed to order.  
“Wikihow! an online wiki-style community consisting of an extensive database of how-to guides!” Coomer chimed in as he dumped out the water from the pan and placed it in gordons sink while Bubby grabbed a seat at the kitchen table.  
“Hm I figured.” He scratched at his neck stubble, god he needed to shave. He finished up his order for groceries, typed in his card info, and placed the order.  
“We’ll have ingredients tonight for noodles, and more soda.” Gordon said, sitting at the table with Bubby. Coomer followed shortly after.  
“So what is that.” Bubby said.  
“What?” Gordon asked in confusion.  
“That.” He pointed at his phone.  
“Oh! Think of it as a mini computer, It’s called a cellphone. I use it to make calls, play games sometimes, and go shopping.”  
Coomer then chimed in, “A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone or hand phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture and, therefore, mobile telephones are called cellular telephones or cell phones in North America. In addition to telephony, digital mobile phones (2G) support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, video games and digital photography. Mobile phones offering only those capabilities are known as feature phones; mobile phones which offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.” Gordon looked at Coomer, amazed.  
“Wait Coomer, how did you look at WikiHow?” Gordon asked, leaning back in his chair.  
“I have extensive access to the whole archive of Wikipedia and WikiHow stored in my brain!” Gordon nodded a bit.  
“Righttt.” He thought of a way to change the subject.  
“When did Tommy fall asleep?”  
“About an hour after you did, you snore like an old fucking man Gordon.” Gordon only nodded in response to Bubby. His mind shifted to thinking about the Nightmare that he had, it was burned into his brain like a damn memory. Is that normal? Gordon didn’t notice he was staring off until Coomer poked his arm and made him jump.  
“Are you alright Gordon?” Gordon smiled a bit and nodded,  
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine Dr. Coomer.” Coomer smiled and looked around.  
Gordon thought of a way to pass time, and then remembered Coomer had a favorite game.  
“Hey Coomer, didn’t you say you enjoyed Super Punch Out?”  
“You mean Super Punch Out!! For the Super Nintendo Entertainment System?” Gordon laughed,  
“That's the one. I actually have it. How about we kill some time since my groceries will take a while to get here.” Gordon had brought it up to also maybe get his mind off the Benrey nightmare.  
“Oh I would love to play Gordon!” Gordon stood and motioned the two to follow him to the living room. He turned on his TV and booted up his SNES. He was shocked it ran as good as new still, it was like a fossil compared to the shit that was out now. He went to a shelf where he kept his games and grabbed Super Punch Out, putting the cartridge into the system and sitting on the floor, Coomer and Bubby joining him. Gordon happily talked the two through the simple controls.  
“You’d make a great teacher Gordon!” Coomer said with a smile.  
“You said that earlier Coomer.”  
“And it still stands true!” Coomer said in reply while Bubby rolled his eyes.  
Gordon got Coomer to the first opponent and handed off the controller to him. Bubby and Gordon watched Coomer as he landed a few good punches in on the first opponent and got a KO in only a minute. Gordon was shocked, he usually took the whole 3 minutes to land a final blow. The original plan was to take turns on opponents but Bubby and Gordon got too caught up in their amazement to ask for a turn.   
By the time the order arrived, Coomer had made it past 6 opponents. Gordon got up and answered the door, thanked the guy and said he could take it from here.  
“Hey can you two come help?” Gordon asked, grabbing a box full of Groceries and bringing it inside, placing it on the kitchen table. Bubby and Coomer nodded and stood, going outside to grab the remainder of the boxer. Gordon was only a bit shocked to see Coomer carrying 3 boxes in and placing them on the floor next to the kitchen table, it wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened.   
The next half an hour was spent unpacking the groceries and putting them away along with taking care of spoiled food left in Gordons fridge. Tommy eventually woke up and joined them. The only reason it took so long was because Coomer had put most of the refrigerated goods in the pantry, and the pantry items in the fridge and Gordon didn’t notice till Coomer was through 2 boxes. Gordon rewarded their help with soda, reminding them water was also important and they couldn’t live off soda. Gordon had seemed to forget about his nightmare and was able to continue on with his day until Coomer pulled him aside into the Kitchen while Bubby showed Tommy Super Punch Out.  
“Gordon, are you alright?” Coomer asked, a concerned look on his face.  
“Yeah, I’m fine Dr. Coomer, why?”  
“Well, I heard a loud noise that sounded like that machine earlier but I wasn’t sure if I should’ve woken you or not so Bubby and I went back to watching tv.”


	4. The Clatter of a Machine

“Coomer what did you exactly hear.” That dread came back to Gordon.  
“Gordon, I don’t mean to frighten you, but it did sound like the same noise that machine of yours made when it created Bubby and Tommy.  
“Can you. Can you keep them distracted Dr. Coomer? I need to check something.” He gave Coomer an uncertain smile and rushed to his room, slamming the door shut and staring at the stupid machine.  
He hadn’t turned it off ever, nor did he disconnect it after exporting Tommy and Sunkist.   
He grabbed the manual off his dresser and sat at his computer dusk, frantically looking through it if what he was thinking was even possible.  
It sure as hell was.  
‘Do NOT keep the extraction machine on! There is a strong possibility self-aware anomalies can escape into your world!’  
Gordons heart sunk into his chest. There was no other explanation for what had happened. As much as Gordon wanted there to be one, there wasn’t. Gordon quickly unplugged the machine, so nothing else could escape. His eyes darted around his room. Where the fuck was Benrey if he had escaped. Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe it was just the machine being weird.  
“Yo Feetman has baby pics guys!” Gordon froze.  
The voice was easy to recognize. This had to be a trick. Maybe Coomer had set him up for one big joke. No. No one could copy that stupid fucking voice. He tried to collect himself before he ran out there and absolutely destroyed Benrey’s face.  
“Try to be reasonable Gordon. There’s obviously something mentally wrong with him, maybe he really has changed for the good, maybe that nightmare wasn’t him.” He paused.  
No, the nightmare had to be him. It couldn’t be a coincidence that nightmare Benrey had told him a foreshadowing.  
Gordon stood and walked to the living room, standing in the doorway of the hallway.  
Yup, it was Benrey.  
“Look Mister Freeman Benrey’s here!” Tommy said from where the two sat on the floor looking through a photo album.  
“It’s always nice to see a familiar face Gordon.” Coomer said.  
“Benrey can I have a word out back?” Gordon said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.  
Had they all forgotten what the hunk of malware had done?  
“Uh, sure Feetman.” Gordon hadn’t missed that.  
Gordon led Benrey outside, shutting the door behind them.  
“What the fuck.” Gordon said between clenched teeth. Benrey looked confused.  
“What bro? I said I’d figure out my way here didn’t I? I like, told you and everything bro and you uh still didn’t expect it?” Gordons head was pounding.  
“You were dead! We fucking killed you!” He decided to start simple.  
“Yeah that was uh, really uncool. I had to uh, re engineer my body. I had to get back to being uh good ol Benrey.” Benrey leaded on the brick wall of Gordon's house.   
How the hell was he so calm?  
“You invaded my fucking dreams! You gave me fucking sleep paralysis!” That earned a look from Benrey, a look the school bully gives you when you talk back to him.  
“That uh really sucks doesn’t it hm? Freeman had a little uh, nightmare hm? Thinks Benrey caused it too. I uh, didn’t make that happen bro, I wouldn’t uh fucking melt myself just to uh torture you.” Gordon studied him.  
“You did cause it, I don’t. I don’t know what the fuck you did okay? I don’t know if you brought me to that world in my dream or if I brought myself there but that was really fucking uncool.”  
“Yo I couldn’t help it feetman! Shit was falling apart so I uh found my way to you.”  
“Why? Why didn’t you just fucking stay there? You had the world to yourself and I wasn’t there to fuck it all up again! Why couldn’t you just be happy with that?!” Gordon watched as Benrey started to scrunch up his face a bit.  
“It’s not good there bro! Whenever you turn off the game we uh live in darkness like a uh endless sleep till you uh open the game back up bro. When you started to export Coomer I uh noticed that the game had well uh, woken up. The others still uh stayed in their void state but I was uh able to look around and move. So I uh guess making that new body wasn’t a total waste. It was all fine for awhile but uh then the sky started breaking and the game started to uh deteriorate. It got really bad when you finished with Tommy and uh Sunkist. I uh only had one way of contacting you but man it started to fucking hurt Gordon. I don’t think I uh, ever felt fucking pain before then bro.” Gordon knew about the darkness, but he had assumed with the odd powers Benrey had that he had the ability to freely roam the game or something. Gordon calmed down a bit. He had to admit, as much as he hated Benrey he didn’t want him to suffer like that.  
“So, wait, the game’s deteriorating?” Gordon crossed his arms, a look of concern on his face rather than anger.  
“Yeah man! The machines like, totally fucking everything up bro!”   
“Wait, how the hell do you know about the machine?” Benrey shrugged.  
“When uh, Coomer got exported, I was uh able to walk around. I was able to see shit y’know? And I noticed a new tool plugged into your computer from uh the file browser. I put two and two together and figured that you had found a way to Export us bro.”  
“You- You can see my files when the game is running?”   
“Yeah. It’s pretty uh, neat I know. Sometimes you used to leave the game running in the background and I’d uh, explore. Your streams aren’t uh, as cringe as I thought they were.” Gordon ignored the compliment. He had to say he was impressed by Benrey but that wasn’t something Gordon was interested in focusing on.   
“Look, I’m confused as hell. And I don’t know if I’m really processing everything correctly right now. But listen,” He put a hand on Benrey’s shoulder, “I believe in stupid redemption arcs, and I think maybe, just maybe, you’ve changed.” Grodon studied his yellow yellow eyes to make sure Benrey wasn’t spacing off. And Benrey definitely wasn’t spacing off, his eyes were glued to Gordons. It was unsettling as fuck.  
“There’s some ground rules if you’re going to stay here. I don’t know what the hell you’re capable of, and I don’t know if your weird powers of whatever carried over from the damn game but here you’re human, okay? HUMAN. And you need to act like one.” He explained sternly.   
“Yeah man, thats uh cool.” Gordon blinked, he didn’t expect such a simple response. Gordon didn’t know how he was going to explain that Benrey was a human when he had yellow eyes, shark teeth, and almost bleach white skin that was tinted blue.   
“Okay. Yeah. So we’re cool then?”  
“Yeah cringeman we’re fine, cool, great.” He gave him a grin. Gordon still couldn’t get over how unsettling it was. Gordon nodded and walked back inside the house with Benrey.  
“Is everything alright Mister Freeman?” Tommy asked, a worried look on his face.  
No, everything was fucking spinning.  
“Yeah Tommy, I’m all good, we’re all good.” He watched Benrey join the others on the floor.  
“Haha baby man.” Benrey said, pointing at the photo album as he joined the circle on the floor. Gordon rolled his eyes and squatted down near Tommy, petting Sunkist.  
“Yeah, that’s- that’s me.” He rubbed the back of his neck, a bit embarrassed they had found his baby pictures. Then again, it was only a matter of time before they did.  
“You were an ugly ass baby.” Bubby said, flipping to the next page of the album.  
“Most babies are ugly, Bubby.” Gordon said, rolling his eyes.  
“I think Mister Freeman was a beautiful baby!” Tommy chimed in.  
“Thank you Tommy.” Gordon looked at Benrey, “Are you like, hungry or anything dude?”  
“Uh, what’s feetman got to eat?” Gordon scoffed a bit, he couldn’t believe he even cocked a smile at the stupid name.  
“Well, it’s getting close to dinnertime, I was thinking about making noodles for us all, something simple.”  
“Can we help Gordon?” Coomer asked.  
“Oh, uh, sure?” Gordon stood and went to his kitchen, grabbing two boxes of noodles and a large pot. His head was still spinning but he could at least process cooking.  
“So. All we need is butter, milk and water.” Gordon said putting the box to the side and grabbing a measuring cup from a shelf nearby. Bubby, Coomer, and Benrey all went to the fridge and searched for the ingredients. Coomer was successful in grabbing the butter, Benrey grabbed a soda and Bubby grabbed… a bottle of hot sauce.  
“Bubby, that is like, the opposite of milk.”  
“I know.” Gordon sighed.  
“You can add it to your noodles after, ok?” Bubby rolled his eyes, placing the bottle next to the stove and grabbed the milk.  
Gordon instructed how to use the measuring cup, which they easily understood. At least they understood basic measurements. He let Tommy fill the measuring cup with water and poor it into the pan. Gordon took over the rest.  
“Now we wait for it to boil and then we throw in the noodles and sauce mix.” The four stood in silence, watching as Gordon stirred the mix.   
“So like uh, how long does this take.” Benrey said, tapping his fingers on his can.  
“It takes a few minutes.” Gordon said, opening the box.  
“Oh. Lame. I thought uh, it was like instant. Don’t those things say ‘Instant Noodles” on em?”  
“This is a different kind of noodle then what you’re thinking of. Even those aren’t instant Benrey.”  
“Those liars!” Bubby growled, Coomer putting a hand on his shoulder.  
“Advertisement isn’t always as good as it seems.” Coomer said. Gordon chuckled as he turned down the stove, putting the powder mix into the pot along with the noodles.  
Gordon stared at the pot while he slowly stirred the noodles. His mind started to settle and he began to think clearly again. Had he really destroyed the game? The urge to suddenly run to his room and check became strong but he didn’t want to panic the others, especially Tommy. Oh god.  
Tommy’s dad was probably gone then. Not gone, dead.  
Don’t be dramatic Gordon.  
He steadied his breathing, trying not to have a panic attack while making fucking noodles. G-Man was like Benrey, wasn’t he? He tried to sooth his mind, thinking of ways G-Man could have escaped or saved himself. His ears started to ring and his mind got fuzzy but he held himself up as sick as he felt. He didn’t know the creepy, interdimensional computer demon that well but god he was Tommy’s dad. Sure there was Darnold but Gordon barely knew the guy. And Forzen? Don’t even get Gordon started on him but, how would the others react to the sudden situation. Gordon had become a murderer and a destroyer of worlds within a day. He felt about ready to hurl as he recalled the state he had seen Benrey in because he knew that, at least, Darnold and Forzen had experienced the same goddamn fate. He couldn’t process it without the need to gag. And then he did and threw up into his sink.  
“Yo Freeman you good?” He could barely understand the words Benrey spoke through the ringing in his ear.  
Did he just say his real last name?  
“Gordon if the noodles caused that, I will refuse to eat.” Bubby said.  
“I’m fine guys, I think I just had some bad food last night before you guys got here… Can one of you hand me a water?” Gordon said, running the water in the sink and wiping off his face.  
“Here Gordon.” Coomer handed him a water bottle as Gordon stood up straight.  
“Thank you. I hope that didn’t scare you guys.” Gordon said, turning off the burner while he grabbed them all bowls.  
“It’s ok Mister Freeman don’t worry!” He smiled at Tommy while he dished out the noodles but, he couldn’t look at him straight in the eyes. It hurt him.  
Gordon handed them all dishes.  
“Aren’t you going to eat Gordon?” Coomer asked, sitting at the kitchen table.  
“Not after throwing up, I think I’ll go lay down again. Can you guys show Benrey the room after you’re all done eating?”  
“Of course Gordon!” Coomer replied. Gordon smiled weakly and walked to his room, not bothering to close the door. He would shower but he didn’t know if he was able to keep himself on both his feet. He went to his computer and sat, staring at the black screen before turning it on. He quickly went to his files and looked to his Half Life folder. It was significantly smaller than he remembered. He had almost memorized everything that was in that folder because he had been staring at that and only that for the past week. The game really was falling apart. Textures were missing from the texture file, scripts and AI files were missing, and just as he suspected Darnolds and Forzens files were nowhere to be found, not even the base character designs were in the folder. He let out a small sigh as he noticed G-Man’s was still there.   
Gordon dug in his junk drawer and found a random flash drive and plugged it into his PC. This had to work to at least keep G-Man from being deleted right? He nervously began to export G-Man to his flash drive.   
3 hours till completion.  
Gordon slowly stood from his desk and managed to get himself to his bed before he blacked out. The next thing Gordon knew he was staring at a blurry light that was in the corner of his room. It had to be late, everything was pitch black. He blindly felt around and tried to find where his glasses had fallen. He slipped them on after finding them on the ground and blinked a few times before looking to where the light was coming from. Oddly, he wasn’t surprised to see Benrey on his phone.  
Gordon just sighed, he wasn’t in the mood to get into a one-sided screaming match with Benrey.   
“Dude why are you in my room? Can’t you like, pretend to sleep or something?” Benrey perked up from his phone.  
“Your uh, nightmares bro.” Gordon sighed.  
“Oh, was I talking in my sleep? I do that sometimes. It’s been a thing since I was like 5.”  
“Nah man, you were like thrashing around and shit, hitting at the air and stuff bro.” Benrey got up and walked over to Gordons bed and sat down on the floor. Gordon could just barely make out his outline.  
“Wait really? I don’t remember anything, not like the one I had earlier…” He tried not to remember the details again.  
“Yeah because that uh wasn’t a nightmare. That was uh me bro, all me.”  
“Right, you said that but. I really don’t understand.”  
“Radio Waves bro, that machine uses a fuckton. Made it easy to uh contact you.” It barely helped Gordon understand, but he took the answer he received.  
“Okay but, why are you here? Why didn’t you just leave me alone?”  
“I’m not like uh, that heartless bro. You gotta like, stop.”  
“After everything you did? You really expect me to believe you weren’t plotting a way to smother me while I slept?” The anger in his voice was growing.  
Then Benrey sang, that stupid blue color that was oddly calming. Even in real life. The bubbles sat between them, supplying them a small amount of light.  
“Yo like, calm down? Please?” Gordon never thought he’d see Benrey looking concerned.  
“Listen bro, I like uh realize what I showed you scared you but like, you fucked up bro. I was uh, lucky, to escape.” He paused as the room went dark, the bubbles fading from existence.  
“Bro, G-Man isn’t like uh happy about you kidnapping his son. I guess he had like a big ol, uhm. Whatever you called it, the redemption thingy y’know? Yeah. He had this big plan! Like remember how I had a plan bro? He uh had one for us too, or uh, them. But now he’s like mad, big mad.” Gordon took a moment to process what Benrey said.  
“Why did you correct yourself?”  
“Wha…?”  
“When you said He had one for us you corrected yourself to them. Why?”  
“Oh. Well, I’m not uh included in the plan bro. I was banished to like my own private place after I figured out how to come back. Banishment is like the one thing I can’t uh get through. It’s the uh one thing that gives G-Man his power.”  
“So wait, is G-Man alive?”  
“Yeah bro! He’s like the creator bro, He existed like, wayyyy before me even bro. He’s fucking old man.” Gordon rubbed his face.  
“Is that bad?”  
“Uh, I mean you fucked up bro, fucking up is like, pretty bad, definatley not poggers either.”  
“I unplugged the machine. So there’s nothing to worry about. Right?”  
“I don’t know feetman, he’s like, pretty smart bro. But I don’t think the tread is like, immediate.” Gordon sighed and sunk into his pillows.  
“I knew it wouldn’t be this simple…” Gordon grumbled.   
“Anyways uh, is feetman still mad I was uh looking after him while he had nightmares? Gordon uh,” He tried to think of a dumb nickname but Gordon spoke before he thought of something,  
“No. Just like, as long as you aren’t staring me down while I sleep I think I can put up with the company in the middle of the night.” It was oddly comforting, but Gordon wasn’t about to tell Benrey that. He wasn’t even sure why he was being so nice already to Benrey.  
“I think uh, feetman needs more naptime. I think he needs a little nappy nap, a good ol sleep.” Gordon sighed and closed his eyes.  
“Just, go back to being on my phone or something.” He grumbled and fell back asleep.


	5. Good Ol' Benrey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to start switching points of view here and there to spice up the story a bit :)

Gordon groaned a bit as he woke up to the sun in his eyes. He slowly sat up and fixed his glasses on his face. It felt good to sleep like a fucking baby. He looked over to the side of his bed, Benrey was still there on his phone.  
“Have you like, plugged my phone in at all? How did you like. Even get my phone.” He said groggily, rubbing his face.  
“Oh it was on the uh counter in the Kitchen. I’ve just been gaming all night bro. You slept like a baby bro.”  
“Well, that was the plan.” He chuckled. Benrey stood up and put his phone on his bed, walking out of the room. Gordon didn’t think anything of it, but Benrey was being a big odd.  
And Gordon was right.  
Benrey went and sat in the living room, turning on the TV. He was still in pain, it sucked. Why did the pain carry into this world? Stupid Gordon, not fucking knowing the hell he was causing. The house was quiet, the rest of the science team was asleep and Gordon was still waking up, leaving Benrey alone in his thoughts. He originally wanted to kill Gordon. He came here to fucking wreck his shit. He ruined everything, all because of a fucking passport. He hadn’t even been thinking about the passport ordeal when he came here. He was just thinking of murder.   
But then Benrey remembered how G-Man banished him. He remembered thinking about how he would never, ever, be able to see his friends ever again. He only had his song to comfort him, but even his sweet voice couldn’t keep himself from wanting to be self destructive. He remembered coming back the day after he met his not so permanent fate. He was so proud that he had remade himself, he was so excited to see his friends again, but G-Man didn’t let him.   
At least Gordon brought them all together in his final moments.  
His thirst for blood had left his mind for the most part, the urge was still there due to pent up anger of course. He remembered how he almost cried when Tommy hugged him when he walked into Feetmans living room. He held himself together though, even when Bubby said it was good to have him back. Benrey thought, before making his decision to export himself, maybe he should just stay. The thought even crossed his mind when he was being gutted by the broken game. He thought he deserved it, yeah, that’s how degraded G-Man made him feel. He was almost too far gone when he contacted Gordon.  
His brain was still broken between hatred and regret when he saw Freeman, guess that’s why he couldn’t help but being aggressive. Gordon didn’t deserve the automatic kindness but something in Benrey allowed him to forgive Gordon but the reminder that he had killed him would always remain in his head.   
Fuck, he could feel himself starting to get emotional.  
He softly sang to himself in his Black Mesa Sweetvoice. Gordon hadn’t brought it up last night when he sang to him, hopefully he’d just forget it happened so he didn’t freak Gordon out because he was still able to produce the sweet voice in real life. He sank into the couch, the colorful bubbles comforting him. The only thing he really felt at the current moment was guilt. He didn’t mean to say I hate you when he contacted Gordon, but it was in the heat of the moment.  
He hated showing Gordon that he actually cared. He hated showing his fucking feelings in general. Feelings were a dumb concept and it’s what got him all fucked up last time. The passport was a big part of everything of course, but feelings were too. The passports were Benrey’s way of keeping himself sane in an odd way. It was something they all had in common except Gordon. That fucked with him when Gordon invaded their world and Benrey thought of him as an immediate threat, mostly because he feared for his friends. Yes, Benrey had access to roam the game along with the others before Gordon had started up the game for the first time since it hadn’t become locked to a users activity. The four had formed a great bond after Benrey broke his AI and then broke the others with the help of being able to edit their files. When Gordon finally came to the game, the first thing he attached to Gordon was his passport, then his fucking dick slip but benrey hadn’t paid that as much attention.   
His constant reminders were more like jabs at Gordon, reminding him and the others Gordon shouldn’t be trusted. But everyone knows the ending. Everyone knows the fall of the Passport Guardian. Benrey actually enjoyed the nickname, it made him feel powerful. Of course, he knew he was powerful, he made himself powerful, he made himself an eldritch being.   
It was a feeling of power that had fucked everything up originally.  
That feeling wasn’t the only one that messed up his plan. His feelings towards Gordon fucked it all up too. Something struck him when he saw Gordon. He didn’t know the word for it so it was pointless to keep his mind on the subject anymore.  
Gordon had finally gotten his ass out of bed and managed to walk to the living room.  
“Benrey?” He noticed the bubbles before Benrey, and there were a lot of them.   
“Oh, hey cringeman.” His voice broke a bit as he swatted away the bubbles. Turned out his Sweet Voice was having an episode. Gordon remembered it happening once in the game. It was a rare sight to see since it only happened in preferable privacy and when emotions took over a possessor of the Sweet Voice. Tommy taught him that.  
Gordon swatted a few of the bubbles away and slowly walked over to Benrey. He had to admit, it was pretty.   
“Are you okay dude?”  
“Yeah bro, you just like, weren’t supposed to see that.” He grumbled.  
“I won’t say anything to the others, but, I didn’t know you could still do that here.”  
“I won’t uh, do it in public. Don’t like, worry or something.” the other bubbles dissipated.  
“Do you want like a-” Benrey cut him off.  
“Listen Freeman I said I was fucking fine man.” He responded harshly. Gordon stepped back a bit, he expected a bit of discourse but not that harsh.  
“Alright, alright.” He walked to the kitchen and made himself a pot of coffee and sighed.He thought things were going great with Benrey for a first day, guess he was wrong.  
Whatever.  
He looked around his cabinets and pulled out some pancake mix. He figured he’d get breakfast started before the others woke up. The odd silence in the house was broken by Benrey turning on the tv and playing on Gordons SNES. At Least it was some sort of noise.  
Gordon poured himself a mug of coffee, the smell must’ve attracted Benrey because he turned around from the coffee maker to see him standing at the doorway of the kitchen.   
“Do you want some?”  
“Bean juice.” Gordon rolled his eyes and took it as a yes, grabbing him a mug and pouring him some.  
“There's creamer in the fridge and if you want, sugar in the cabinet.” Benrey just left the room with his mug. Gordon let out a defeated sigh and went back to making pancakes.  
“Good morning Gordon!” Gordon almost threw the pan he was using.  
“Good morning Doctor Coomer. Are the others up? I’m making pancakes for us all and they’re almost done.”  
“Yeah we’re up.” Bubby said, walking into the kitchen and going to the fridge.  
“Oh, that's good. Uhm. Do you guys want coffee?”  
“Sure Gordon!” Coomer said.  
“I don’t drink coffee Mister Freeman.” Tommy called from the living room. Bubby had already grabbed a soda from the fridge.  
“I’m good.” He said, kissing Coomer on the cheek and joining Tommy and Benrey on the couch.  
“Did you sleep well Gordon?” Gordon smiled, dishing out the pancakes.  
“Yeah actually but, according to Benrey I was having nightmares. Guess he watched me all night.” He grabbed the maple syrup and took some of the plates to the kitchen table.  
“Well Gordon, it’s always good to have a watchful set of eyes to look over you.” He smiled, helping Gordon with the plates. Gordon looked over at Benrey who was cheering Tommy on while they played Mario.   
“Yeah, I guess. Breakfast is served guys.” Gordon sat down at the table and prepared his pancakes. The others grabbed their own plates, Coomer sat with Gordon while the others went back to the couch. After eating he pulled out his phone, he had a Question for North.  
‘Hey, does your wife have to shower? Or do any basic hygiene?’ He sent the text.  
What an odd fucking text.  
‘Showering isn’t a necessity. She never gets sweaty or greasy but if she feels dirty she knows to shower. Bathrooms also an obvious one LOL. They’ll know what to do, I promise you won’t have to deal with anyone shitting their pants. I’ve also noticed hair cuts are never an issue and neither is aging? It’s odd but, I hope it doesn't freak you out too much that the Extractor makes them immortal unless, well obviously, they get killed.’ Gordon put his phone down. He was relieved but weirded out by the eternal youth shit.  
Gordon went around and gathered the dishes, throwing them in the sink. His phone chimed,  
‘Oh, I take her clothes shopping sometimes, It doesn’t hurt to take them out in public and get them some extra clothing.’ Gordon sighed.  
‘Thanks North.’ He put his phone away.  
“Do you guys what to like, see the city?” He rubbed his face, he couldn’t believe he was asking if they wanted to go out in public.  
“That sounds amazing Mister Freeman!” Sunkist let out a small bark and wagged his tail in reply also.  
“Uh, sure Feetman.” Benrey didn’t look up from the game.  
“Oh a big family outing would be amazing Gordon! A great bonding activity!”  
“As long as it’s safe and he doesn’t kill us Harold.”  
“I’m sure it will be perfectly safe Professor.”  
“Doctor.”  
“Professor.”  
“Doctor.” Bubby rolled his eyes and looked back at the TV.  
“Okay, well it’s settled. We’ll all go out then. I don’t think I can fit Sunkist in the truck with all of us Tommy.”  
“That’s okay Mister Freeman! He can watch over the house while we’re away!” Gordon smiled.  
“Hey is he hungry by the way? I bought dog food.”  
“Well I gave him a slice of pizza yesterday but breakfast wouldn’t hurt him.” He smiled, petting the large dog.  
Godon nodded and found two large mixing bowls and filled one with water and another with the dog food he bought. Thank god for Costco. He placed the bowls in the kitchen.  
“Okay well, I’m going to go get ready and shower uh, don’t break anything. Coomer you’re in charge.” Gordon smiled and went to his room to grab a change of clothes from his dresser then went to go shower.  
“Do you think we should take off these damn lab coats? I don’t think it’s, well, normal to just wear them out in public.” Bubby said, handing the controller to Tommy as he died in the game.  
“That sounds like a wonderful idea! I am quite sick of this coat.” Coomer said, taking it off and folding it. The other two agreed.  
“Do you think I should wear my hat out today Dr. Coomer?” Tommy had put it on the table in the room when he fell asleep.  
“I don’t think it would do any harm.” He smiled in reply.  
“Okay! I’ll take our coats and put them away.” He smiled and stood, grabbing Coomer and Bubby’s coats.  
“What about you Benrey? Are you gonna keep that stupid helmet on the whole time?” Bubby said, getting up to throw his can away.  
“Uh, yeah dude. It’s like attached to me bro.” He chuckled a bit, leaning into the couch while he played.  
“Now Bubby, Benrey just has different standards and morals and we should all respect that.” Bubby rolled his eyes, sitting on the arm of the couch, Coomer joining them on the couch along with Tommy who came back sporting his hat.   
Gordon slipped on a black shirt and a pair of jeans then brushed his hair back into a ponytail. He walked out of the bathroom and grabbed his car keys from his desk, putting on shoes. He pulled out his phone and checked his bank account.  
$300.  
Well, he could work with it but he needed to get back into his streaming schedule.  
“Okay guys are you ready?”  
“We’re always ready Gordon!” Coomer said getting up. Benrey paused the game and got up with the others.  
“Alright.” He led them outside to his truck.  
“Is this your car, Gordon?” Coomer asked as they all climbed into the truck, Tommy sat upfront with Gordon.  
“Yup. It’s kinda beat up but it works as good as new!”  
“Oh! Make sure everyone buckles up so we stay safe!”   
“Thank you Tommy.” Gordon started the truck.  
Gordon drove, thinking of where he could take them.  
“Guys, look there’s other people!” Tommy said, pointing at pedestrians while they drove.  
“Yo and they don’t all look the same!” Benrey said, looking out the window.  
“Oh, yeah. No one really looks the same in my world. Everyones born different.”  
“Are they all as ugly as you Gordon?”  
“Uh that’s completely up to your opinion Bubby.” Gordon said laughing a bit, pulling into the parking lot of a thrift shop.  
“Okay, basic rules. Don’t like, kill anyone okay? You will get in so much trouble if you do that here. Act as normal as possible,” He shot a glance at Benrey, “and don’t grab too much shit ok? We’re here for clothes mostly.”  
“We’re going shopping?” Tommy asked,  
“Yeah. I thought it’d be a nice introduction to things so I can get you all used to how things are here.”  
“Thank you Mister Freeman! I’ve always wanted to go shopping!” Gordon smiled, turning off his truck and getting out with the others, locking up the truck and leading them inside. Gordon was relieved the store was pretty much empty.  
“Okay, you guys have a bit, let's all meet up here when we’re done looking around and I’ll pay for everything.” They all nodded and disbursed. Gordon didn’t really need anything so he kept an eye on everyone, especially Benrey. He tried not to make it obvious and followed Benrey to the back where the electronics were.   
Benrey stood looking at the miscellaneous electronics for a bit before grabbing an old Xbox that had a few accessories, a controller, and a game or two. He then picked up a PSP, a 3DS, and a Playstation 3. Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“Dude.”  
“What’s up bro? You uh, want anything?”  
“You realize those won’t work right? You don’t buy electronics from thrift stores, especially when they’re dirt cheap.”  
“I think Feetman should uh, trust me on this one.” Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“Fine, but when they don’t work don’t say I didn’t tell you so. Gordon said before walking off.  
Benrey gave him a small smirk, he knew what he was doing. Benrey made his way over to the clothes and looked through the button ups, grabbing a few that were the same shade of blue as the one he wore. He liked the color blue, he had a reason for it but he couldn’t recall it. He browsed for a bit, picking out a couple pairs of black jeans and one pair of black sweats, something comfortable might be nice to have since he could change clothes now. He scanned the sweaters and found a large playstation hoodie and smiled. It was all he ever wanted.  
Gordon had tagged along with Tommy, watching his browse through anything yellow.   
“What do you think about this shirt Mister Freeman?” It was a short sleeve button up with daisies on it, yellow of course.   
“I think it’d look nice on you Tommy.” Gordon looked to where Coomer and Bubby were, it looked like they were picking out clothes for each other. Cute.   
After about half an hour, the group wrapped up their shopping experience and Gordon bought everything they had found for a grand total of $136 and they only got a few odd looks from the cashier.  
“Thank you Mister Freeman!”  
“Yes, thank you Gordon! That was a great experience for our first family outing.” Gordon smiled at Coomer saying ‘family’. It meant a lot to him.  
“I’d say let's go see some other places but I think this was enough for everyone today.” Gordon looked in the mirror at Benrey. He was going to ask if he was alright but he remembered how that went last time. Gordon knew deep down something was up with Benrey but why should he care, he was being a dick anyways. He pulled into the driveway and helped them get the bags inside.  
“I’m gonna uh, go use your bathroom Feetman.” Gordon shrugged.  
“You don’t have to tell me dude. Go for it.”  
Benrey nodded and went to his bathroom, locking the door behind him. He didn’t really have to go. He just needed to calm down before he had another episode. Fucking Feetman again, making him feel shit again. He stared at himself in the mirror but he didn’t know what was staring back. He didn’t look like anyone else. He didn’t have a normal skin color, he didn’t have a normal eye color, and he wasn’t even human. He reached up and took off his helmet, His short hair falling in his face a bit. He brushed it back with his hand, revealing the jumbled mess of eyes that was hidden by the helmet and his bangs. He quickly put his helmet back on and looked away from the mirror. He wasn’t a chicken head, he wasn’t about to cry over himself. Stupid Feetman. He didn’t care if he didn’t fit in, fitting in was for losers and Gordon just had to get used to it. Yeah. That’s how this was going to work.  
Everything was going to be fine.  
Benrey was fine  
He was good ol’ Benrey  
And that’s all he needed to know to be okay.  
Right?


	6. Until you Find the Words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took longer then expected, got busy with life things y'know how it is. I was curious if any of you guys think I should make a Tumblr for this story? For asks and art (If I get around to making any). Also! here's the spotify playlist I use while writing if anyone's curious :) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22Dr2WjRtHBUFFMmEiFfEJ?si=muF1tH_aSeWBwPLd4mL_Jw  
> Also the chapter's a bit short this time around, sorry lol.

“Do you think Benrey’s okay? He’s been in there for almost an hour.” Gordon said to Tommy, checking his phone.  
“Don’t worry Mister Freeman, he’ll be out soon I’m sure.”  
“Good because I have to shit and it isn’t fair he gets the bathroom for that long.” Bubby growled, sitting with Coomer between his legs while he played the SNES, resting his head on Coomer’s shoulder.  
Gordon sighed and looked at the bathroom door to see Benrey phasing through his bathroom door.   
“Dude!” Berey froze in the door and looked at himself.  
“Ohhhh right.” He went back through the door and opened it normally.  
“First of all, we talked about this! Second of all, you can still fucking do shit like that here?!” Benrey shrugged as Bubby shoved past him into the bathroom.  
“I’m uh, not human. I told you that a while ago Feetman. Did uh, Feetman forget? Gordon uh Forgetful man.” Gordon was sick of seeing that stupid fucking smirk and it had only been two days.   
“No- No I remember but the others are acting as normal as can be with no issues, so what’s your damage? Seriously, stop all the freaky shit alright?” He rolled his eyes and took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, sinking back in the recliner he had across from the couch. Benrey said nothing and walked to the couch and sat next to Tommy on the arm of the couch. Gordon didn’t even glance over to him, he didn’t have an ounce of regret for lashing out but, why did he feel so guilty? Probably because he moped around like a lost puppy. A weird alien one who doesn’t know how to fucking behave.   
“So. How did everyone enjoy the day out.”  
“It was lovely Gordon! I think we should have another!” The others stayed silent. Gordon knew he made the room tense by yelling at Benrey.  
“You guys can take care of yourselves right? I need to run some extra errands. Alone.”  
“I’ll make sure everything stays in tip top shape while you're gone Gordon!”  
“Thank you Dr. Coomer.” Gordon grabbed his keys off the kitchen table and left, going to his garage before leaving to check if he actually needed anything. Oh, that doggy door so Sunkist doesn’t shit in the house.  
At least Gordon had an actual reason to leave now. He got in his truck and started it. He sat for a minute but decided not to get lost in his thoughts. He didn’t know where he was going to go but he just needed out. He knew this sudden change would be easy but he didn’t expect Benrey to show up which made the situation even more life changing. He figured he would go up to the edge of the road where that cliff was and watch the sunset before he went to the hardware store. Sunsets were an odd type of therapy for him ever since his mother died and his dad abandoned him about a year ago. Drugs. Drugs fuck people up, especially his dad.  
He drove, and drove. As he drove, the houses got smaller and smaller, older and older. It was sad to see the conditions people were living in, but eventually the houses stopped and turned into empty pieces of land, and then into trees. It was peaceful until it wasn't.  
“Yo.” Gordon swerved, spooked by the sudden voice.  
“Benrey?!” He looked back a bit, it sure was.  
“Yup.” He responded, buckling himself up. He had snuck into his truck when he was in the garage.  
“Why the fuck are you here?!” He kept his eyes on the road.  
“I dunno?”  
“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know!”  
“Bro calm down.”  
“No! You snuck into my fucking car! Why can’t you leave me-”  
“Bro you might wanna like slow down?” Benrey said.  
Gordon realized he was almost at the end of the road and screeched to a halt.  
“Why did you sneak into my car.”  
“I uh, don’t know.” Gordon sighed and turned his truck around, backing up a bit and parking.  
“You know what. Fine. Join me. I don’t fuckin care.” He got out of the truck after turning it off, going to the back of his truck and putting the door to the bed down. He simply sat and looked out over the drop. You could see the city past the protected forest but other than that, it was a clear shot of the sky. Hr didn’t turn his head when Benrey climbed into the truck bed with him, sitting up against the side of the truck. They both sat in silence and Gordon was only slightly peeved about it.  
“Do you want to tell me why yet?” Gordon looked over at him slightly. Benrey just sat looking at the drop of the cliff. Gordon sighed, defeated.  
“I’m uh. Sorry.” Benrey struggled to say the words. Gordon was surprised hearing Benrey say those words. He could tell something more was up and that he was struggling to speak.  
“I’m sorry too… Just, when you can find your words tell me why you do this shit.” Gordon huffed. Benrey seemed to lighten up a bit, he tilted his head up to look at the sky.  
Benrey didn’t mean to frighten Gordon so much but the others suggested he go and try to talk to him. Benrey was bad at using his words to be serious though and it made him hard for him to talk. He wanted to say something, he opened his mouth but all that came out was his sweet voice. He quickly covered his mouth, ashamed and embarrassed. Gordon glanced over and smiled a bit.  
“I wish Tommy was here to translate but,” He shrugged, “the sight is nice.” He looked back to the sky.   
Red to burning orange means he’s trying to learn.  
Benrey sighed and rested his head on the side of the truck. He could feel another episode coming but he tried to suppress it. The hatred he had towards Freeman had died off. He was forgiving him.  
Blue to citrus means forgiveness.  
Gordon watched as the bubbles floated towards him. It sure was a sight to see.  
“Have you like, ever seen a sunset?” Gordon turned to Benrey.  
“Not uh really.” He muttered.  
“Well if we get lucky we’ll see the sky change colors.” Benrey looked back to the sky.  
“That’d uh, be cool.” The two watched the sky in silence. For once, the silence wasn’t tense. It was calm and relaxing. Gordon didn’t want to just give into Benrey’s sudden kindness but he himself started to forgive.   
“Oh! Look!” Gordon placed a hand on Benrey’s shoulder and pointed to the horizon as it shifted to a golden orange. Benrey watched in amazement.  
“Yo that’s pog.” He smiled. It was, a kind smile. It still had that unsettling vibe to it but, it was something Gordon had never seen Benrey do. Gordon kept his hand on his shoulder for a bit, he didn’t know why but it was just a nice feeling. Benrey hadn’t really noticed until, well, he did. He refrained from his usual snarky comment and enjoyed the moment.  
“Y’know, Don’t change okay? You’re. You’re a weirdo and you fucking freak me the fuck out but, our family wouldn’t be anything without you.” Benrey blinked and froze a bit.  
“Family?” He managed to say one word.  
“Yeah dude, I don’t really have any of my own so, that’s what you all are to me.” Benrey couldn’t hold back, he felt the episode almost explode out of him. Gordon watched, taking his hand off Benrey’s shoulder, watching the bubbles go into the sky, listening to his soft and broken singing that came with it. It was odd, but odd was good and Benrey was teaching him that. Gordon watched as Benrey calmed down, he didn’t notice the pink tint to Benrey’s face.  
“That was, beautiful. Is that what I saw this morning?” Benrey nodded, looking to the sky again.  
They sat in silence for a bit again, watching as the sun went behind the tree line.  
“I uh, snuck into your truck because the others wanted me to talk to you. Thought it might uh help things.” Benrey said, finally speaking.  
“Well, it kinda did. You still scared me.” He chuckles and hops out of the truck bed.  
“It’s getting dark and I have to run a few errands, come on. You can sit up front with me.”  
“Oh, thanks feetman.” Gordon couldn’t believe he was happy to hear that out of Benrey.  
Gordon drove back down the road while Benrey played with the radio.  
“That radio has been dead for years, it’s just a fidget toy.” Benrey frowned a bit.  
“Bro bet.” Gordon watched a bit as Benrey placed a hand over the radio and then took it off.  
“It’s uh, good as new.” Gordon looked back and chuckled  
“Dude all you did was put your hand on the radio.” Gordon pressed the power button and jumped a bit as static played from the radio.  
“Oh my god.” He looked back and forth from the road and the radio. Benrey chuckled a bit.  
“Poggers bro.” He switched the channel to some alt-rock channel.  
“You can fucking do that? How?!”  
“I dunno, I just like, figured it out one day with the uh computers in the game. I just gotta focus and I can like, do wacky stuff man.” Benrey shrugged  
“Thank you. That saves me like, so much money dude.” Maybe not all computer viruses were bad.  
Gordon pulled into a parking spot in a shopping pavilion, getting out of his truck with Benrey.  
“BBBBGamestop!” Gordon jumped and looked to where Benrey was pointing.  
“Oh. I forget you know about shit like that. You want to like, go to it?”   
“Yes.” Gordon chuckled.  
“Alright, I wanted to stop by there anyways.” Gordon walked into the Home Depot, Benrey tagging along by his side.  
“If you want anything let me know, I just need a dog door for Sunkist.” Benrey nodded and smirked. Gordon had to admit he missed Benrey’s smirk, he really wished he wouldn’t have snapped like that at him. Gordon browsed a bit, Benrey stared at pieces of pipes and tools in wonder.  
Benrey suddenly felt something off, and then Gordons phone rang, making it worse.  
“Hello?” He looked to Benrey.  
“Mister Freeman.” Gordon knew that voice and looked back to the shelf's.  
“Yes?”  
“Did you think you could kidnap my son without consequences…”  
“I didn’t kidnap him, he’s safe and sound at my house. I exported him.” Gordon muttered, Benrey rolled his lips, getting close to Gordon to listen.  
“Well Freeman, you’re going to severely regret that… I may still be stuck in the virtual world but I will find my way out Mister Freeman. And when I do, I will see to it that you personally go to hell.  
“I mean, Benrey kinda already covered that one.”  
“Mh… I forgot about the virus that invaded my game.” there was a moment of silence.  
“I’ll see to it he gets taken care of also.”  
“You realize he’s like, Tommy's best friend right?” The man had already hung up.  
“What was uh, his problem? He got a fuckin problem?” Gordon couldn’t tell if it was actual anger in Benreys voice or he was being sarcastic.  
“It was G-man. You were right, he isn’t too happy about what I did…”  
“Well uh, he can fuck off.” Yeah, it was definitely anger in his voice.   
“It’ll be alright Benrey lets not, worry about that now.” Gordon felt uneasy the rest of the time they spent in Home Depot.  
“Can we uh, still go to gamestop?” Gordon smiled as he finished checkout.  
“Yeah, I think it’ll help us both relax.” The two left the store and walked down to Gamestop. It was nice to see Benrey excited.  
“Go look around, I need to get some stuff up front.” Benrey nodded and ran off into the store like a kid.  
“I need 4 phones.” Gordon said.  
“Oh, uhm. I don’t have all the same, and the few I got are pretty scuffed up on the edges.” The guy gave him a weird look as he grabbed a few phones.  
“They’re all prepaid, is that okay? I can try to see if I can get a family plan thing but, that isn’t really something we-”  
“Perfect.” Gordon said, picking out 4 simple smartphones. They weren’t too beat up.  
“Do you have any cases by chance?” The cashier shook his head, ringing him up.  
“Is that all?” Gordon looked to Benrey.  
“Hey dude are you getting anything?” Benrey smirked and came up to the front, putting the game with the phones.  
“I have to say Heavenly Sword is a great pick, It’s basically-”  
“Halo for the playstation bro.” The cashier laughed a bit, taking Gordon’s card.  
“Yup.” He bagged their stuff.  
“Well, y’all have a good night.” The cashier said as they left.  
“Damn, I was gonna buy that for you.” Gordon laughed.  
“Can you uh, get my PS plus?” He asked as they got in the car.  
“Oh, sure. I need to stream again, my bank account is suffering.”  
“Do you think I could uh, be cringe with you Feetman?” Gordon rolled his eyes, driving them home.  
“Yeah, I’m sure my audience would enjoy a new face.” He gave Benrey a smile, which he returned with a toothy grin.  
Benrey realized what the stupid feeling was finally. He looked out the window after putting on the radio, Creep by Radiohead playing while he spaced off.   
He was falling for Cringeman.  
Hah, he smiled to himself, cringe.


	7. The Week Goes By

“Hello Gordon! Hello Benrey!” Gordon smiled and looked around the room, Tommy must’ve gone to sleep.   
“Hey Dr. Coomer.”  
“Yo.”  
“Did the plan work Benrey?” Bubby asked, sitting up where he rested against his shoulder.  
“Uh, yeah man. Me and good ol’ Feetman are all good, poggers.” Benrey gave Gordon a smirk before joining the two on the couch. Gordon smiled back a bit and sat by Benrey. He hadn’t willingly sat by him before. It was odd.  
“I got you all somethin.” He grabbed the Gamestop bag, grabbing 3 of the 4 phones.  
“These are for you.” He handed them to them.  
“Do you guys remember Coomer’s explanation of a Cell phone? Well that’s what these are so in case something goes wrong while I’m not home you guys can contact me.  
“Thats epic.” Benrey took his and turned it on.  
“Thank you Gordon! These will be quite handy” Coomer said, helping Bubby who was fumbling with the phone.  
“I’ll help Tommy with his in the morning.” Gordon said, watching the three explore what the phones could do. Gordon helped them know how to make calls and gave them his phone number.  
“Yo Bubby, wanna see something cool?” Benrey asked.  
“Yeah what is it.” Benrey called Bubby’s phone and put it on speaker, motioning for Bubby to pick up and do the same.  
“Wait don’t-” It was too late, Gordon covered his ears and sighed while the two cackled.  
“Friendship is a wonderful thing Gordon!” Gordon grumbled as Benrey hung up.  
“Please, don’t do that anymore.” Gordon pleaded.  
“Fine, fine.” Bubby rolled his eyes.  
“Did you guys eat anything?”  
“We made noodles again, Bubby is an amazing cook!” Bubby smiled a bit.  
“I fucking better be.” He rested back on Coomer.  
Gordon smiled and got up to go to the Kitchen, Benrey followed. Gordon didn’t bother to turn on a light as he rummaged through the fridge.  
“Do you want anything dude?” He looked out of the fridge to Benrey who seemed to almost blend into the darkness. It gave Gordon chills.  
“Soda? Uhm. Whatever you’re uh gonna have bro.” Gordon nodded. Benrey’s voice seemed a bit distorted but Gordon didn’t pay any mind to it.  
Benrey watched as Gordon rummaged, taking the time to take off his helmet a bit in the darkness. He could keep his extra sets of eyes closed for hours but they needed a rest from the immediate darkness too. He tried to keep himself from morphing into something… more. His goal wasn’t to make Gordon go insane anymore.  
“You ever take that Helmet off Benrey?”  
“Uh, yeah bro it’s just uh not usually.” He slipped it back on as Gordon closed the fridge, holding two sodas and some lunch meat for them.   
“Doesn’t it get uncomfortable or is that like, not possible?” He handed Benrey a bag of lunch meat and the two sat at the table.  
“I mean, yeah.” Benrey said, opening the package of salami.  
“Well, I think I might have an old beanie laying around. It has the little lip part so you can keep your face shaded.” Gordon chuckled a bit.  
“I’ll uh, look at it.” Benrey smirked, eating. Gordon stood from the table and went to his room, he knew exactly where the dumb thing was. He reached into a box in the back of his closet and pulled out the beanie. It was almost an exact knitted copy of Benrey’s helmet.  
“Here.” Gordon placed it on the table and grabbed the lunch meat bags they were snacking out of and put it away. Benrey quickly took his helmet off and slipped on the beanie before Gordon could see.  
Gordon chuckled a bit, joining Benrey at the table.  
“It’s a good look on you.”  
“Thanks I uh like it.” He smirked and felt how soft it was.  
Gordon looked at the helmet, it was interesting to see it off the security guards head. He yawned a bit, and stood.  
“Feetman gonna go take a uh nappy nap? A little uh, sleep?” Gordon chuckled, filling Sunkist’s bowls.  
“Yeah, I’m pretty exhausted.” He walked over to the doorway of the hall and smiled at where Bubby was now asleep on Coomer’s shoulder.  
“Alright, night guys.” He looked at Benrey and smiled, “don’t steal anything.” He went to his room and laid down.  
Benrey was left flustered and over what, Gordon cracking a small joke at him? Stupid Feetman… Benrey got up after a while and sat by Coomer.  
“Think I should uh watch over him again hm?”  
“I think that would be very kind of you Benrey! You two seem to be getting along quite well!” He gave Benrey a smile before going back to resting his head on Bubbys.  
Benrey nodded and stood, walking to Gordons room, No clipping through the fall because doors are dumb. Gordon was fast asleep already. Benrey couldn’t help but stand and watch him for a bit as he peacefully laid there. He had a sudden need to protect him instead of torture him constantly.   
The week passed by quickly, each day became easier and easier to deal with. Gordon finally got back into streaming every other night and got his steady income back so he didn’t have to risk trying to get the other 4 jobs, could they even have jobs without an SSN?  
“Good morning gordon!” Coomer said. He had figured out how to use the coffee maker and handed him a mug.   
“Thanks.” He sat with Benrey on the couch. He had fixed all the dumb electronics to Gordons surprise.  
“Yo, morning Feetman.” Benrey said, not looking up from Heavenly Sword. Gordon hadn’t thought about the G-Man thing since it happened but, for some reason, he felt it was a good time to bring it up now.  
“Hey are the others up? I kinda want to have a little meeting.”  
“Yes Gordon! They’re just watching TV in the other room.” Coomer got up to grab the other two.  
“Is everything okay Mister Freeman?”  
“Well, for now yeah.” Bubby sat with Coomer at the table, Tommy sat in the chair. They all watched Gordon as he folded his hands.  
“Tommy’s dad contacted me… and technically Benrey, he was there too.”  
“Tommy isn’t your dad an interdimensional computer demon too?” Bubby asked. Tommy nodded, Gordon had never seen Tommy look so concerned.   
“What did he say Mister Freeman?”  
“Well, to sum the call up, he threatened to show me hell personally for kidnapping you. He threatened to deal with Benrey too,” Gordon glanced over to Benrey who was balled up in his playstation hoodie.  
“But you didn’t kidnap me Mister Freeman, I-I wanted to be here!” Gordon smiled a bit.  
“Well. That’s the thing, I think your dad had other plans.” He remembered the things Benrey told him when he basically destroyed the game.  
“Benrey told me about how he had a plan for you three I guess once I left.”  
“What do you mean three there’s four of us, can’t you fucking count?” Bubby said.  
“I got banished dude, G-Man didn’t uh really like me.” Tommy sat quietly, processing everything.  
“My dad did mention a secret surprise he had for me after my birthday party Mister Freeman! Maybe that’s what he was talking about!” Gordon nodded.  
“Your dad’s still struggling to escape my computer as far as I know.” Tommy nodded, slicking his hands through his hair a bit. So that’s where the resemblance was. Godon shivered a bit.  
“I’m sorry he’s doing this Mister Freeman…” He looked at him, clearly upset.  
“Hey…” Tommy started to cry and Gordon went to his side and knelt next to him, “Hey, it isn’t your fault okay? I’m sorry I made things sour between you and your dad.” Tommy wiped away his tears,  
“It’s okay Mister Freeman.” His voice cracked a bit, “Things have always been a bit sour but he’s not a bad dad! Just… a bad guy.” He sniffled and cracked a smile at Gordon.  
“I won’t let him fuck with us.” Bubby said, getting heated. Coomer put a hand on his shoulder.  
“Neither will I Gordon.” Gordon nodded and glanced at Benrey who had made his way over to where Tommy sat and was rubbing his back.  
“You didn’t do anything wrong Mister Freeman. My dad is just not used to others making me happy.” Gordon nodded and stood up.  
“The next time he calls, I’ll let you guys know right away. I’m sorry for keeping that from you guys, especially you Tommy.” He hugged Tommy and sighed.  
“I’m uh sorry too.” Benrey said, sitting on the arm of the chair.  
“I uh, probably don’t help your dads dumb anger issues.” Tommy smiled and hugged Benrey.  
“It’s okay Benrey!” Tommy sat back down.  
“Well this is fucking depressing.” Bubby said, everyone shared a small laugh.  
“Do you guys want to go get Ice cream?” Gordon said after they sat in silence for a bit.  
“That sounds great Gordon!”  
“BBBBBBBIce cream!” Tommy laughed at Benrey’s odd way of speaking when he got excited.  
“Roadtrip!” Bubby said getting up.  
“Well, let me get changed and We can head out.” Gordon walked to his room and picked out an orange hoodie and grey jeans and changed. He looked at the now packed up machine and sighed. He should shove it in his closet so he could forget it existed. Gordon walked back out and grabbed his keys off the kitchen table. He chuckled, realizing Coomer was wearing a ‘Worlds greatest grandpa’ sweater over a white button up. It wasn’t that bad of a look on him actually. Bubby wore his blue turtleneck which was surprising at all and Tommy wore a yellow t-shirt tucked into some old mom jeans he found.  
“Can we take Sunkist Mister Freeman?” Gordon sighed and smiled.  
“Sure, do you remember where we put the leash last?” Tommy nodded and got up to grab it. Gordon had gone out of the way to get a collar and leash for Sunkist. It was probably good for the dog to get out of the house and see what was around.  
“He’s gonna have to lay across you guys in the back…”  
“That’s alright Gordon!” Coomer said as they started to leave. Benrey decided to sit shotgun so Tommy could hold Sunkist.  
Benrey had been really comfortable with him lately. He didn’t feel uneasy when he watched over him at night, he hadn’t had an episode in a week, and he hadn’t felt unnecessary anger towards Gordon.   
“What does everyone want? We’re going to Dairy Queen.” Tommy pulled up the menu on his phone and showed the others.  
“I’ll take a chocolate sundae!” Coomer said.  
“I’ll get one too.” Bubby said.  
“Great choice professor!”  
“Doctor…”  
“Professor!”  
“Doctor.”  
“I’ll have a banana split, Mister Freeman!” Tommy cut the twos argument off.  
“Benrey, do you want anything?” Benrey blinked and looked at him, he had been spaced out.  
“Oh uh,” He thought, “Cookies and cream shake.” Gordon smiled and nodded. He pulled into the drive through and waited for their turn. While they sat, Gordon looked at Benrey a bit. Hey, he looked actually pretty cute in that dumb beanie. He shook his head and scoffed at himself, did he really just fucking think that? Benrey glanced over at Gordon and smirked.  
“You uh, okay cringeman?”  
“Hm?” He nodded and looked away. “Yeah, just tired. Still waking up y’know?” Gordon rubbed his neck, a bit embarrassed he was caught staring like that.  
Gordon pulled up and ordered their ice cream and waited to pay at the window.  
“Huh, looks like you guys might see snow today.” He looked back at Tommy,  
“Aren’t you freezing by the way? It’s like, really fucking cold out.” Tommy laughed a bit.  
“Oh, I don’t really feel temperature Mister Freeman! I get that from my dad!” He smiled, Gordon laughed nervously.  
“Well, let me know if you need a sweater.” Gordon smiled at the cashier and handed him his card, got it back, and then waited to pull up to the next window. Gordon took the time to look at Benrey a bit again, he really was otherworldly, there was so much he was probably capable of that Gordon hadn’t seen. Was it ethical to fall for a computer virus? Someone Gordon was pretty sure Benrey was half machine or something. It probably wasn’t smart to get involved with someone so dangerous? Was that even the right word? Gordon sighed and pulled forward, grabbing the ice cream order from the lady.  
“I love your dog! Is he mixed with a saint bernard?” The lady asked.  
“His names Sunkist!” Tommy said, smiling as Sunkist woofed at the lady and wagged his tail, hitting Bubby in the face a few times.   
“Well he’s beautiful.” She smiled, a few other workers had gathered to look at the dog. Gordon chuckled, “Well, you guys have a good day.” He pulled away and into the parking lot that was mostly empty.  
“Let’s hang out here.” Gordon said, parking and getting out with the bag of ice cream and going to the bed of his truck, the others following.  
Benrey sat next to Gordon as he handed everyone what they ordered with a spoon. Benrey longingly looked at how Bubby and Coomer cuddled up to each other, he wanted what they had. Tommy watched Benrey as he softly sang to himself, unbeknownst to the others while they talked.   
“Mellow yellow to callous asparagus means he’s jealous!” Benrey quickly shut up and stuffed his face with ice cream. The others noticed as the bubbles trailed off. Gordon laughed a bit and looked from Tommy to Benrey who was glaring at Tommy.  
“Is that true? What’re you jealous about?”  
“That’s uh false Feetman, that’d be cringe.” Benrey said, keeping his cool by smirking. Gordon looked at Tommy who just shrugged.  
“Do you guys have any ideas of what I should do for my stream tonight?”  
“We could uh, play something together.” Benrey said quickly.   
“You know, that’s not a bad idea dude. Sure.”  
“BBBBBPoggers.” He smirked and finished his ice cream. Bubby opened his mouth to say something but Coomer put a finger to his lips.  
“I think that’s a wonderful idea for you two to… bond Gordon!” Coomer and Bubby shared a small giggle which Gordon ignored.  
“I agree with Doctor Coomer!” Tommy said, giving Benrey a wink.  
“Well, guess I’ll have to introduce you to the basics before tonight then.” He looked at Benrey and smiled, the two awkwardly stared at each other for a second before looking away. It was obvious to everyone other than the two idiots that they were head over heels for each other. Neither of them were catching on to any of the signals the other was giving. Bubby, Coomer, and Tommy all knew there was an awkward romantic tension between the two but no one was going to push them. They had to find their own way to use their words.   
They finished up their ice cream and Gordon drove them all home. Tommy let Sunkist out of the truck and turned to Gordon.  
“Could I take Sunkist on a walk around the block?” Gordon smiled  
“Sure, it’ll be good for him.” He knelt down and pet Sunkist, “Just be careful.”  
Tommy smiled and ushered Sunkist ulong as they walked down the driveway. God that dog was massive.  
Gordon sighed and took off his sweater as they got inside.  
“I’m gonna go show Benrey some basic streaming rules and teach him a few things, don’t break anything.” He chuckled.  
“Don’t Worry Gordon!”  
“We’ve got it all under control.” the two giggled to each other, Gordon gave them a weird look.  
“Alrighttt well, We’ll be in my room.” Gordon walked with Benrey to his room and sat in his chair, starting his computer. He looked at the flash drive and sighed. He took it out and tossed it to Benrey.  
“Can you destroy this?” Benrey nodded.  
“Yeah, why? You got uh hentai on it bro?” Benrey chuckled and broke it in half.  
“No. I exported G-Man into there.” Gordon stared at the now broken flash drive. He didn’t realize how strong he was.  
“Ohhh. Pog.” He tossed it in Gordon’s garbage.  
“I really can’t believe he’s trying to get into this world.” Gordon scanned the old Half Life folders and his trash folder, yeah, G-Man was gone as far as he knew.  
“He’s uh, pretty wacky dude. Pretty uh, skilled too.” He rolled his eyes. Is that what Benrey was jealous of maybe?  
“Yeah, I guess. He’s also a fat sack of shit that really shouldn’t have put you through that banishment shit.” Gordon shrugged, “I mean, it was fucking lame what you did in the moment but, I have to admit, going though taking over a whole game just to get at me for not having my passport and invading the game is pretty impressive dude.” Benrey blushed a bit, he smirked and looked at him.  
“Yeah? You uh killing me was uh fucking lame.” He paused and Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“But uh, you looked really fucking cool while doing it bro.” He rubbed the back of his neck and they shared another awkward silent stare before they both looked away.  
They still hadn’t realized they were falling in love, but the awkwardness was oddly beautiful.


	8. Full Disclosure

“So that covers the basics and rules of what tonight will look like.”   
Gordon turned to Benrey, who sat on the edge of his bed watching him quietly. Benrey wasn’t usually this good at listening but today he was quiet. Very quiet.   
“Well?” Gordon raised an eyebrow.  
“Oh, uh. Yeah bro, that’s all good.” Benrey looked away, glancing around the room.  
“Well, I don’t stream for another 4 hours.” The two sat quietly.  
“Do you want to show me Heavenly Sword?” Benrey hiccuped a bubble and looked at him,  
“Do you uh, mean that feetman?”  
“Well yeah, we got some time to kill and I feel like you never get a chance to talk about what you’re interested in.” Benrey smirked and stood and Gordon knew he was in for a lot.  
“You uh, sure dude?” Gordon chuckled and stood,  
“Yeah. I am.” Benrey smiled a bit, his eyes lighting up. Sure, it was some video game, big deal right? It was a big deal to Benrey, and that’s what Gordon cared about.  
Gordon sat on the couch while Benrey turned on the Playstation, grabbing the controller and sitting next to Gordon. Bubby and Coomer had decided to take a nap in the room while Tommy and Sunkist were asleep on the chair that faced the TV. Benrey got right to it and explained the basics of the controls. Gordon hadn’t touched a playstation controller in years so he was obviously rusty. Benrey chuckled, watching him fumble the controller for a while, he thought it was cute. Cute… What the hell was he thinking. He knew the basics of love, and he knew that you needed to be real around the person you loved.  
“Hey Feetman can you uh remind me to tell you something later?” Gordon nodded, figuring out the controls.  
“Yeah, sure dude.” He figured out the controls a bit more,  
“Is it something serious?”  
“Mh. Depends uh don’t like, worry about it Cringeman.” Gordon nodded and looked at him a bit before he went back to looking at the TV. He shouldn’t have expected something to come out of his mouth that wasn’t ominous like that. Gordon dropped the thought and let Benrey tell him about the game and show him through the campaign. Gordon had never heard Benrey talk so much.  
Tommy eventually woke up, mostly because Sunkist was licking his face because he was hungry. Gordon had really started getting into the game, Benrey was actually a really good guide.  
“Hey, I think if we get this hooked up in my room we could stream it tonight if you’d like. I really haven’t made my mind up on what I was even going to stream tonight and I really don’t want to finish my Doom playthrough this soon.” Benrey lit up a bit and smirked.  
“Yo really? That’s pog.” He tried to keep his excitement contained. Gordon chuckled and played.  
“I mean, you know so much about it, you’ll give some great content to the stream.” He shot a smile at Benrey.  
“What time is it anyways?”  
“It’s almost 5 Mister Freeman!” Tommy said which spooked Gordon, he had forgotten Tommy was still in the room. His mind was focused on the game and Benrey, Mostly Benrey.  
“Oh, okay.” Gordon smiled and kept playing.  
“Oh wait it’s 5?!”  
“Almost 5.” Tommy corrected him.  
“Shit the stream starts at 5!” Gordon quickly exited the game and turned off the playstation.  
“I’m going to go get my computer set up, unplug the Playstation and bring it in my room and if you want you can come watch Tommy.”  
Gordon rushed to his room to start up his stream quickly. Benrey made quick work and brought the playstation in not a minute later, Gordon helping him set it up to his computer while Tommy joined them, sitting on the bed. Benrey got himself situated on the end of the bed that faced the computer. He had to admit, he was nervous as hell. He knew Gordons audience was big but it was a computer screen, and it protected him.  
Like it always had.  
Gordon was quick to get through introducing everyone to Benrey and Tommy before he passed off the game explanation to Benrey. Benrey didn’t focus on anything but rambling about the game as Gordon advanced in the game. Tommy chimed in here and there to warn Gordon about an enemy. The people were loving it, Gordon had already hit his sub goal of 1000 in under an hour. The stream continued for about 4 hours, Bubby and Coomer ended up joining in also.  
Gordon hadn’t felt happiness like this in years. He remembered when he picked up Half Life VR and expected it to just be a fun game to play on the side but it became so much more to him. Having the whole team there made the stream even better. Gordon looked at the time, it was almost midnight. The stream was still going strong but Gordon had to end off somewhere.  
“Well, I think we better end the stream here.” He turned to the others who sat on the bed and smiled.  
“How about we all say goodbye together?”  
“Lovely idea Gordon!”   
“Okay, count of 3 then.” He turned back to his computer and smiled.  
“One… Two… Th-” They all yelled at the same time.  
“Goodbye Gordon!”  
“Bye fuc-” Coomer knew Bubby would pull something like that ad covered his mouth.  
“Bye!” Tommy said and smiled. Benrey just gave a small wave. Gordon sighed and ended the stream.  
“Thank you guys.” He turned to them and smiled. He had to honestly hold back tears.   
“Of course Gordon! We didn’t know streaming could be so enjoyable.”  
“I thought you were a loser.” Bubby said, wrapping an arm around Coomer.  
“That meant alot to me, you guys joining in and all.”   
“I think your job is wonderful Mr. Freeman!” Tommy said happily. Benrey still remained silent, in a bit of shock that he was able to speak so well to others. Strangers at that, with out being fucking weird.   
“Oh. I hate to cut our little moment short but, Benrey asked if he could talk to me about something, privately.” Gordon met Benrey’s gaze.  
“Oh it’s uh. It’s nothing man, I forgot about it anyways.” Gordon rolled his eyes, and nodded to the others as a way of telling them to go ahead and leave.  
“Don’t.” Gordon looked at Benrey.  
“Huh?...”  
“Don’t like, bring shit up and then go back on talking about it.”  
“Oh, uh sorry dude.” Benrey avoided eye contact.  
“So what is it.”  
“I don’t think you’ll uh. Like it.” Gordon sighed but he knew it was hard for Benrey to talk about things.  
“Let me say something personal first then. It’s something personal you want to share, right?” Benrey nodded a bit.  
“Well, you guys are kinda my only family.” Gordon leaded back in his chair, “My mother died about a year ago. My dad, wll, he got back into his hard drugs. Blamed it on me. Could you imagine that? If you had parents right? And one of them blamed you for a fucking accident that you didn’t even witness.” Benrey watched as Gordon let himself cry unknowingly.  
“Bro… dude.” Benrey got up and hugged him.  
Benrey fucking hugged him  
“Don’t uh. Cry man…” Gordon held him close, not getting up from his chair. He was mostly shocked that Benrey was hugging him. Holding him at that. His grip around him was tight and oddly cold. The cold was nice for a change. Gordon started to let go a bit, but Benrey kept gripping onto him.  
“I uh didn’t know we were that meaningful to you bro.” Benrey pulled from the hug and went back to where he sat.  
“Are you like, ok dude? It’s like, not poggers to see you upset man. Not cool.” Gordon wiped his tears away and chuckled.  
“I’m fine.”   
“You like aren’t though!” Benrey sighed.  
“Benrey please.” Gordon eyed Benrey, he didn’t want pity.  
“Sorry.” Benrey crossed his arms and looked outside.  
“It’s… It’s okay.” Gordon leaned back in his chair.  
“I don’t uh, know if I should like uh talk.” Benrey said after a bit of silence.  
“Hm? No you can still talk. I want you to talk. I talked so you could.”  
Benrey sighed shakely.  
“Okay.” Benrey stood and locked Gordons door.  
“It’s not like, pretty or anything. Not like my other dumb uh. Trick I guess.”  
Gordon nodded, watching in amusement. Benrey lifted his hands to the beanie.  
“You’re like uh, perfectly safe bro. Just so you like. Know.” The room felt suddenly cold as Benrey slowly lifted the beanie off. He kept his other eyes closed as his black hair fell over them. He knew it wouldn’t just be his eyes that he was about to show off. Benrey lifted his bangs and opened each eye individually. All 8. Gordon felt his heart speed up a bit as he gripped the arms of his chair.  
“Wow… I wasn’t uh… expecting that.” Benrey didn’t speak. Gordon noticed he had, well, grown a few inches. He got shivers as he recalled the massive size Benrey had been at the end of the game.  
Gordon hadn’t studied Benrey’s eyes too much before but he certainly did now. He noticed that when he blinked, his eyes did that weird reptilian thing, where the white film goes over his eyes when he reopens them. It was fucking chilling.  
Benrey tried to keep his attention on his form so as to not let it get out of control. He felt himself contort a bit, it didn’t hurt that much as his face stretched and body shifted. His hands turned to claws, his teeth seemed to get sharper, or at least his canines were. His skin turned to that familiar blue shade and then came the other hands, two other sets contorted from his body like a goddamn spider. His body kept distorting as he held his form, the distortion turned to spikes here and there all over his body.  
“Are you like, ok bro?” Gordon was silent, filled with different feelings.  
“No…?” He scoffed and stood.  
“I don’t know what to say.” Gordon stuttered. He really wanted to say something but he didn’t know what. He was fucking pertified.  
“I’m sorry dude I didn’t know it’d uh. Upset you.” His voice glitched and his face seemed to glitch into multiple.  
Gordon tried to keep eye contact, “Don’t apologize for who you are. I want you to be natural around me even if you’re absolutely horrific. I want to learn to accept you.” His voice broke a bit, why was he getting upset? He could only slowly approach Benrey.  
“I’m so fucking sorry I ever hurt you or disrespected you or or.” He fumbled his words and Benrey simply reached out to him with his hands, or claws rather.  
“Hug?” Gordon smiled slightly.  
“You know what… sure.” Gordon awkwardly hugged Benrey, resting his head on his chest.   
“You know you like uh didn’t cause this right? You don’t gotta like, apologize.”  
“I fucked up.” Gordon said shakily. The sheer presence of Benrey had him shaken to his goddamn core.  
“We both did bro! Like, calm down man! I won’t fucking hurt you for like past bull shit bro! We both hated each other man but we had our little like uh-”  
“Redemption arc?”  
“Yeah that thing dude! I’m nice now bro. I don’t wanna be bad dude!” Benrey started to shift back down to his normal form.   
“I got scared. I panicked. I’m sorry Benrey.”  
“I uh kinda expected it dude, it’s all good. We’re like still buddies right bro? Pals?”  
“Yeah. Yeah we’re fine man.” Gordon smiled.  
“Let’s sit okay?” Gordon led him to the bed after Benrey unlocked the door.  
“I don’t want to dwell on the past ok? But I really regret the past.”  
“I do too, Gordon. I uh really wanted to be nice but, character arcs man. Morals.” Gordon chuckled a bit.  
“You said my name.”  
“Wha…?”  
“Benrey, you never say my name.” Gordon looked at him, Benrey blushed a bit realizing that he did say his actual name.   
“Uhm, yeah I uh, guess I did.”  
“Hey, is there something else on your mind?” Gordon put a hand on his shoulder and studied his face.  
“I wanted to like see how you’d react to me bro. Pretty cool right?”  
“Yeah. Yeah you are pretty cool Benrey.”  
“I know okay, I know you’re supposed to show your like true colors to the person you like bro and that’s you man.” Benrey softly sang out purple to blue. Gordon knew that one.  
I love you.  
“Benrey do you mean that?”  
“Yo uh. Shut up.” Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“You know what, maybe I’ll listen to you for once.” Gordon grunted, he slipped his hand to the back of his head and kissed him.  
Feetman kissed the dumb computer virus.  
Benrey’s lips were cold. It was odd, but Gordon was starting to like odd things.   
Benrey couldn’t hold it and sang into Gordon’s lips, the surprise made him have a small episode. Gordon choked out one of the bubbles.  
“Oh uh shit.” Benrey said after his episode. His face was a soft shade of pink. Gordon chuckled a bit.  
“I should’ve warned you hm?” Benrey smirked a bit.  
“Haha Feetman choked on my balls.” Gordon sighed and rolled his eyes.  
“I’m glad you haven’t changed you snarky idiot.” Benrey leaned into him a bit.  
“I’m uh, your snarky idiot now hm?” Gordon blushed a bit and smiled a little.  
“Yeah. Yeah you are.” They connected their lips again, Benrey enjoyed the warmth Gordon gave him. The two intertwined their hands together and smiled.  
“I love you Benrey. Even if you’re a cursed and cryptid bitch.” Benrey chuckled a bit,  
“Yeah, I uh love you too Feetman.”  
The two rested their heads on each other and shared the moment. Benrey’s honesty was appreciated, and it really helped Gordon see that his feelings for Benrey were okay.  
“Mr. Freeman it’s snowing like you said it would!” Tommy busted in. Gordon’s face went red.  
“Tommy.”  
“Hi.”  
“Tommy.”  
“Hi.”  
“Hello Gor- Oh my.” Coomer looked at the two.  
“Heyyy guys uh.”  
“Fine work Gordon!” Coomer said.  
“OH MY GOD.” Bubby said, joining the others at the door.  
“You guys are acting like we’re fucking or something! We are holding hands! Oh my god.”  
“Yo that’s uh, gay dude.” Benrey said laughing and putting his head on his shoulder.  
“They're in love, Doctor Bubby!” Tommy said with a smile.  
“So we were right! Benrey and Gordon are in love! Beautiful!” Coomer said.  
Gordon sighed.  
“Yeah. Yeah we are.” Gordon said with a smile.  
“We’re fucking gay dudeee.” Benrey said laughing again.  
“Well, this takes care of having to tell you guys I guess.” Gordon patted Benrey’s shoulder and stood.  
“How about we go out back and we play in the snow. I think you guys will enjoy it.”


	9. A Family Matter

“This is very cool Gordon!” Coomer said as they sat outside watching the snow fall. Gordon had brought out a small lantern for light.   
“Yeah. Yeah it is pretty cool.” He watched as Benrey looked at the sky. He had put his beanie back on.”  
“I think you look better with the beanie off.” He whispered to Benrey, joining him at his side.  
“I agree with Mister Freeman Benrey! Black hair suits you!” Tommy said from the table.  
“Wow, your hearing is impeccable.” He scoffed.  
“I uh, don’t wanna get cold man. My ears need to be uh warm bro.” Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“But you’re like, already cold I- Nevermind.” He held Benrey’s hand and watched the snow.  
Benrey smiled and gripped Gordons hand, his interest shifting from the snow to their hands. He was completely head over heels for Freeman. Benrey clinged to his arm a bit while he checked his phone.  
“Hold on.” Gordon’s phone rang, he answered it, rubbing Benrey’s hand.   
“Hello?”  
“Good evening… Freeman…” Gordon looked at Tommy and gave him a look, Tommy knew.  
“What the hell do you want.”  
“I’ve found my way out, this is... a courtesy call.”  
“Yeah? And what the fuck are you going to do? I know you’re a space god and shit but if you cause a scene you will have so much on your plate you don’t even know.”  
“Oh but I think I do… Mister Freeman… I have a plan. I’m coming for you and...the others…” Tommy suddenly got up and grabbed Freemans phone.  
“Dad stop threatening Mister Freeman, he did nothing wrong!” G-Man let out a sigh.  
“Tommy… Now you leave your dad to his work…”  
“No! I-I want to be here! I want to be with the others! They’re my… Family Dad!”  
“...Now Tommy, Don’t you remember… My plan…”  
“I don’t, I don’t care anymore dad I’m happy here!”  
“It seems they’ve… brainwashed you… I hope you… haven’t forgotten your real family or your responsibility…” The line then went silent. Gordon had been listening in, along with the others who now gathered around Tommy.  
“Well that’s fucked up.” Bubby said as Tommy handed the phone back to Gordon.  
“Tommy, what did he mean by responsibility.” Tommy sighed and looked at Gordon.  
“It’s a long story Mister Freeman.” Gordon smiled a bit,  
“Well, let’s head inside.The storm’s kicking up a bit anyways.” The group nodded together and headed inside. Gordon sat in the arm chair, Benrey on the arm of the chair. Tommy, Bubby, and Coomer sat on the couch.  
“My dad wants to train me to fill his shoes.” Tommy said after some time.  
“He wants to...Teach me his powers!”   
The room fell silent, no one quite understood G-Man so no one knew about his powers.  
“Yo that might be like, pog dude.” Benrey smirked. Gordon shot him a look,  
“Benrey.”  
“You’d have like, cool powers bro. Your dads like uh, a more glorified version of me.”  
“Really?” Tommy seemed to light up a bit.  
“Uh, yeah man. It’s not like horrible to be a uh space demon man. Except I uh don’t really know what your dad can like do.” Benrey said, trailing off at the end.  
“I think Tommy has a choice, right?” Gordon said, looking at Tommy.  
“I don’t think so Mister Freeman.” Tommy looked at Gordon.  
“I may be an Orphan but I have a family tradition to uphold.” Gordon wanted to say that he didn’t have to do that, that he didn’t have to take his dad’s place but he didn’t want to upset him.  
“Bro we aren’t in the game anymore you don’t like gotta do that man!” Tommy leaned back into the couch, glancing to the side.  
“Benrey, it's not a choice! Even if, if my dad doesn’t come to see me! It’s in my DNA.” Benrey rolled his lips, laying off a bit.  
“So, it’s scheduled to happen basically.” Gordon leaned on Benrey’s legs,  
“Yes! When my dad decides it’s the rich time he’ll… he’ll pass the torch.” Gordon nodded.  
“Could you explain a bit more Tommy, I think we are all quite confused.” Commer asked.  
“I can try Doctor Coomer.” Tommy focused on the floor.   
“Well, I was adopted when I was… Five. I always knew about my dad being powerful!”  
“So wait, there was a time before me?” Gordon looked at him, confused.  
“Yes Mister Freeman!” Tommy pondered his thoughts for a moment.  
“My dad created the game! Or, well, your version of the game Mister Freeman. My broken ai was from an old game that was abandoned by other creators. I remember sitting there in the dark for a long, long time before my dad adopted me! He brought me back to his home which was what became the alien world in your Half Life copy. We stayed there for a long long time before my dad said he had a job for me at Black Mesa! He put my AI into the game!”  
“So, you looked different before who you are now?” Gordon rubbed his head.  
“Exactly Mister Freeman! The copy you had just happened to be the one he picked. Your computer must’ve been easiest to get to from where we originally lived. Do you remember how long you had the game before opening it for the first time?” Gordon thought for a moment.  
“Almost a year.”  
“Well, over that year I made Sunkist! I also made friends with the others!”  
“I remember meeting Tommy, it was a wonderful day!” Coomer said, smiling.  
“I finally felt like I belonged in a game! I had finally found a. A home! The others became self aware after meeting Benrey.”  
“So you’ve always been self aware? Since the first day Tommy?” Gordon fixed his glasses.  
“Yes! My dad wasn’t happy about Benrey… I remember hearing him talk about him to his friends on the phone some nights before he left after he knew I was safe.”  
“Yeah man, you dad like hated me man because I had already made a place for myself before him. I was like, originally the one who like uh, broke everyone’s AI.”  
“Did your dad also have a different form then?”  
“No he’s always looked that way Mister Freeman!”  
“But there’s other versions of him in other games with, well, actual AI.”  
“He knows! He just- just had that model and really liked it!” Tommy smiled warmly and looked to Benrey, as if he was asking him to continue.  
“I’m uh, like G-man in the sense that I like, can travel from games. I came from the Half Life game though, my uh model is permanently attached to me, minus uh, contortions. I was just a glitch in your copy bro, and I completely fucked up G-man uh plan. He wanted Tommy to have a cool job and a cool interaction with the player, but I like, uh, made it about me I guess. I made it more fun.” He smirked.   
“Ok, so, Tommy’s dad hates Benrey because he ‘ruined’ Tommy’s experience as a game AI by basically taking his game hostage. The game only got activated when I finally started it after a year, but you four lived freely in my copy until then. Benrey had fucked up the other’s AI since he was a glitch or whatever that came with the game.” Gordon was still trying to grasp the situation.  
“Exactly Mister Freeman!”  
“Yup, G-Man big mad dude.” Benrey leaned back and played with his sweater sleeves.  
“Okay but what about Bubby, he always talks about his tube.”   
“Well, I was born in a tube Gordon. It wasn’t just a year Gordon. It was much longer, I assure you, that you had the copy of the game. It was odd I, well, don’t really remember how I ended up-”  
“I remember.” Benrey spoke and looked down. “Bubby’s code was weird so I like, rebuilt him. Shit was uh, wacky. Me and Tommy put his model in the tube to work on him and basically re-engineered a human into the game. Coomer mostly helped with uh making sure he was uh human. He’d spend nights by his tube and comfort him when he’d have like, fits.” Coomer and Bubby shared a smile.  
“It was painful.” Bubby groaned, “But it ended up being worth it.”  
“Thats fucking insane, you guys made, basically, a whole fucking human!” Gordon held his head in shock.  
“We did Mister Freeman!” Tommy said proudly.  
“I mean, that’s pretty cool actually but one thing still stands...Why do you have to take on your dad’s job Tommy? Whatever his job is.”  
“Well his job doesn’t exist really anymore Mister Freeman! His job was to look after his game but it’s gone now! That’s why he’s so angry but, I still need to take on his powers. No matter what Mister Freeman. I don’t have a choice, it’s all up to him. I won’t have to go back to the digital world, I won’t go look for a new place. I know my dad wants me to go back with him but I won’t! Even with my new powers I can’t just leave!” Gordon sighed.  
“I hope your dad finds a different job.” He sighed, defeated  
“I do too Mister Freeman!”  
“Do you guys remember your combat skills from the game?”  
“Of course Gordon!”  
“You know it.” Bubby smirked.  
“It’s still all instinct Mister Freeman!”  
Benrey didn’t say anything and smirked at Gordon.  
“Good, because I don’t know what the fuck is in store for us. Tommy, you need to be mentally pre-”  
“Don’t worry Mister Freeman… I… I know what I’ll have to do.” Tommy avoided looking into Gordons eyes.  
“Okay… How about we talk about this in the morning, It’s getting pretty late anyways.”  
“Hug?” Benrey said suddenly.  
“Wonderful Idea Benrey!”  
The group got up and shared a big hug.”  
“We’re in this together alright? We’re all going to get out of this too.” Gordon sighed and smiled.  
“Alright,” He let go of the hug, “Let’s rest up for tomorrow.” Gordon didn’t know when G-Man would come for them but he wanted everyone to be prepared. The others went to their room while Gordon and Benrey went back to Gordon’s room.  
Gordon had forgotten Benrey and him were officially dating.  
“Uhm… Do you want to… Sleep in my bed?”  
Benrey got flustered, singing out a few soft pink bubbles.  
Gordon laughed a bit, “Well, I’m going to go change into my pj’s…” He watched as Benrey stood, dazed, then left the room with a tank top and sweats.  
Benrey rubbed his face and sat on the bed, waiting for Gordon to get back. He can’t believe Feetman would ask him to do something so gay. He couldn’t believe they could do that now without Gordon biting his head off. He couldn’t believe they were in love.  
“I see you made up your mind hm?” Gordon said, joining him on the bed.  
“Is this too much for you yet? I don’t know how you feel about stuff like this…”  
“Yo stop like, worrying dude.” Benrey smirked and laid down.  
“You better not be a blanket hog.” Gordon said, laying next to him. They laid there in the dark, in silence. It was awkward as usual but it was still nice.   
“I. I love you…” Benrey muttered, rolling over to face him. Gordon smiled, placing a hand on Benrey’s face.  
“I love you too.” They gently connected their lips, Gordon slipping Benrey’s beanie off to run his hand through his hair. Benrey smiled warmly and rested his head against Gordon’s chest, listening to his heart beat. He’d never really heard one since he didn’t have one himself.  
“It’s like normal right?”  
“Hm?”  
“It’s normal for your heart to be like, making noise right?” Gordon laughed and held him close, “Yeah, don’t you have one?”  
“Psh, no.” Gordon rolled his eyes, he didn’t expect a yes to be honest.  
“Weird, don’t you bleed?”  
“Yeah?” Gordon sighed and rubbed his back.  
“That’s really odd but, guess that’s what I signed up for.” He kissed Benrey on the head.  
“Night Benrey.”  
“Sleep well idiot.” Benrey closed his eyes and waited for Gordon to fall asleep before opening them again to admire his face and watch over him since he didn’t really need sleep. He was scared for the G-Man situation, he didn’t want Gordon to die or something dumb. That’d be super cringe. Benrey started to think about it. What if Gordon did die? What would they do? Who would put up with his bull shit? Who would look at him the way Gordon did? Who would love him and hold him… Benrey felt himself getting too emotional again and settled himself down by crying. Fuck. He was crying like a goddamn baby.   
He clung to Freeman, pushing his head against his chest. He closed his eyes and found his way to Gordon’s mind.  
“Ben-” He hugged Gordon, even in his dreams he could still feel the warmth of Gordon.  
“D-dude I can’t lose you.” His voice broke.  
“What? You ar-”  
“Please don’t let fucking G-man of all goddamn people take you from me.” He gripped Gordon’s tank top.  
“I… I won’t dude. I promise.” Gordon held him and played with his hair.  
“I love you…” Gordon kissed the side of his head.  
“I love you too, don’t worry.” and that night was the first night Benrey had ever slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sad Benrey is valid


	10. Instinct

Gordon opened his eyes, it was barely light out. He jumped, forgetting Benrey was asleep next to him. Gordon smiled and stroked his hair, he was happy to see that he had fallen asleep and wasn’t just staring at him when he woke up. He kissed his head and shook him a bit,  
“Hey, wake up.” Benrey groaned and gripped Gordon, burrowing his head back into Gordons chest like he was a big teddy bear or something.  
“Mh… Why?” Gordon tried to sit up be Benrey’s hold was too tight.  
“Because we have to get ready to practice today…”  
“But sleep is nice man…” Benrey let go of Gordon, propping himself up on his arms.  
“Yeah, that’s why people do it.” Gordon chuckled and sat up, looking at Benrey.  
“Your hairs cute when it’s all messed up like that.” Benrey rolled his eyes and fully sat up.  
“Psh, yeah? That’s cringe.” He fixed his hair a bit. Gordon wrapped an arm around him and sighed.  
“I don’t want to deal with Tommy’s dad, I really don’t.” Benrey chuckled a bit.  
“He has like, no talent. The mans like totally cringe. He can’t like do anything.” Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“Benrey he’s a man of power, he can do things he isn’t some random fucking guy.”  
“I’ll like, fucking destroy him.”  
“Yeah? I’ll look forward to it.” Gordon kissed him softly, holding him close.  
“Don’t get yourself hurt alright? Not too much at least.” Gordon put a hand against Benrey’s face, rubbing his cheek. Benrey smirked and rested against Gordon’s hand, all his eyes looking at him. It wasn’t that unsettling to Gordon anymore.  
“I like, won’t bro.” He kissed his hand and got up.  
“I’m going to go get breakfast started then.” Gordon stood also, giving Benrey another kiss as he let his extra sets of eyes close.  
“Alright I’ll uh go get changed for the day then.” Gordon chuckled and left the room to start breakfast.  
Benrey looked at the floor and smirked, grabbing Gordon’s sweater and his beanie then left to the spare room.  
“Good morning Benrey!” Coomer said from the bed. Bubby was laying on his chest, looking at his phone. Tommy was brushing Sunkist.  
“Yo. Feetman says we gotta like train or some shit today.” Benrey went to his part of the dresser and grabbed a tank top and a pair of blue jeans.  
“Training? We don’t need training!” Bubby said, putting his phone down. Benrey shrugged putting his beanie on.  
“He’s also uh makin breakfast. Pretty pog right?”  
“I think it’s great that Gordon take’s care of us so well.” Coomer said with a smile as Benrey left the room to get changed.  
“Good morning Gordon!” Gordon almost threw the eggs he was making into the air.  
“Good morning Doctor Coomer.” Gordon laughed a bit, going back to his cooking.  
“What’s on the menu today?” Bubby asked, sitting on the counter.  
“Eggs and toast, I’m making scrambled and over easy.”  
“That sounds wonderful Mister Freeman!” Tommy said from the living room.  
Gordon smiled and kept cooking.  
“Benrey told us you want to train us today.” Bubby said, his eye’s focused on Coomer while he talked. Coomers arms were around his waist while Bubby remained on the counter.  
“Oh, yeah. I just want to review some combat in the backyard.” The two nodded.  
“Gordon? Do you feel bad that Tommy doesn’t have a significant other?” Coomer asked.  
“Hm? Oh. I guess I haven’t really thought about that…”  
“Don’t worry about me Doctor Coomer! I’m a-okay!” Tommy had come into the kitchen, unknown to the others.  
“Oh, hello Tommy!”  
“Have you ever even felt love Tommy?” Tommy rubbed the back of his neck and laughed a bit.  
“Maybe a little Mister Freeman…” Coomer and Gordon looked at eachother.  
“What? Who!?” Tommy smiled and grabbed a soda.  
“I don’t really want to talk about him. Nothing bad happened! Just, something I’m not ready for.”  
“Well that is certainly some news!” Coomer smiled while Gordon dished out breakfast.  
“Tommy why didn’t you tell us?” Bubby asked.  
“It never crossed my mind.” He shrugged and grabbed a plate of food, going back to the couch.  
“Yo!” Benrey came into the kitchen and grabbed a plate, kissing Gordon on the cheek then going to the living room.  
“Well he’s in good spirits.” Bubby grumbled, hopping down from the counter to grab plates for Coomer and him.  
“I guess so.” Gordon laughed, grabbing his own plate and joining Benrey on the couch with Tommy while they watched the news. Gordon finished his food quickly. He was nervous. He had a big feeling G-man wasn’t going to wait longer than two days to launch his plan of attack.  
“You okay bro?” Benrey asked, wrapping his arm around him  
“No.” He scoffed.  
“Ah, yeah I like, figured.”  
“It’ll be okay Mister Freeman!” Gordon smiled.  
“I can only hope I guess… Wait is that my sweater?” Benrey looked at himself and then at Gordon.  
“Isn’t uh, sharing caring or somethin?” Everyone shared a laugh.  
“Just ask next time or something.” Gordon smiled, looking him up and down. He couldn’t say no to Benrey when he looked that good in his clothes.  
“What are we doing for training Mister Freeman? I don’t have my gun!” Gordon smiled at Tommy.  
“I have one.” Gordon Stood and grabbed the empty plates.  
“I have a few actually.”  
“That’s awesome Mister Freeman!” gordon smiled, going to do the dishes.  
“Well, you guys go get some actual clothes on while I do dishes.” Gordon did the weeks worth of dishes that had been stacking up. God, it was kinda gross he should really teach them to help out around the house.  
“Okay.” Gordon sighed, walking into the spare room where the four were watching TV.  
“Are you guys ready?”  
“Yup!” Bubby said getting up along with the others. Gordon led them outside. It had snowed almost a foot.  
“Woah.” Bubby said as they stepped onto the snow.  
“It’s just the snow we saw last night but a lot more than what we saw falling from the sky.”  
“Gordon, I believe we should take the time to learn more about snow.” Coomer cleared his throat.  
“Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.[2] It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout its life cycle, starting when, under suitable conditions, the ice crystals form in the atmosphere, increase to millimeter size, precipitate and accumulate on surfaces, then metamorphose in place, and ultimately melt, slide or sublimate away.”  
“Thank you Doctor Coomer but we should really-”  
“Snowball fight!” Bubby called from across the yard, hurling a ball at Gordon.  
“Wonderful Idea Professor!”  
“Doctor!” Bubby had started to build himself a wall of snow to hide behind.  
Coomer formed a snowball and flung it at Bubby’s snow wall. “Professor!”  
Benrey cackled and joined Bubby behind his wall, supplying him with plenty of snowballs.  
“Don’t worry Mister Freeman! I’m very good at building since I play minecraft!” Tommy quickly got to building them a small wall that they could hide behind.  
“Great work Tommy!” Coomer said, rolling a large snowball. Gordon kept Benrey and Bubby at bay while Tommy kept building.  
“My god Tommy!” Bubby called, peeking out over the small wall. Gordon smirked and nailed him in the face. Tommy had built them a small igloo behind the wall.  
“Get ready Gordon! I’m about to “Pog” it!” Gordon watched as Coomer picked up the very large snowball he had made and hurled it at Bubby and Benrey’s wall. They watched in horror as the giant snowball landed on top of them and their wall, destroying it.  
“Wow Coomer they really didn’t stand a chance did they?”  
‘No!” He smiled.  
Bubby and Benrey shook off the snow and cackled.  
“My hands were getting numb anyways.” Bubby said, standing.  
“Mine too.” Gordon said, walking over to the shed.  
“Where are you going Mister Freeman?” Tommy called out from the igloo.  
“I’m grabbing my guns.” Gordon walked into his shed, swatting away cobwebs. He looked at the three gun cases, two pistols and one shot gun. He grabbed one of his pistols and brought it out to Tommy.  
“Bubby will you need one also?” Bubby and Coomer smirked at each other.  
“Bubby has a secret talent!” Bubby rolled his eyes.  
“Harold now isn’t the time.”  
“It very much is Bubby! Our life’s may be on the line!” Bubby scoffed.  
“It’s nothin’ special.”  
“Please show us Doctor Bubby!” Tommy pleaded.  
“Fine. Gordon what can we do target practice on?”  
“Oh…” Gordon looked around his back yard. “Tommy do you mind building a snowman?” Tommy nodded and quickly made a plane snowman in the middle of the yard  
“Alright Bubby, let’s see what you can do.” Gordon stood back and watched as Bubby readied himself.  
He noticed the snow under Bubby had started to melt and a small fire at his feet started to form. Coomer watched proudly as Bubby set the snowman on fire, turning it into a puddle in a matter of seconds.  
“Holy shit Bubby! You’re a human torch?!”” Gordon laughed, watching him stomp the fire he had created out.  
“I know it’s fucking rad right?” He smirked at Gordon.  
“That was amazing Doctor Bubby!” Tommy said, looking at him in awe.  
“Well. Does anyone other than Tommy need a gun then?” Everyone shook their heads.  
“Okay, well, I’ll have an extra pistol if anyone needs it at the fight. Coomer are you sure you won’t need one?”  
“Of course Gordon! Since you have unlocked the super player feature already, it will remain unlocked for the rest of eternity.” Gordon shuddered a bit, Coomer could be quite ominous sometimes.  
“Alright, I’m going to help Tommy review his marksmanship. You guys just practice on some more snowmen alright?” Gordon turned to Tommy and led him to an old tree stump, showing him the pistol.  
“You remember the basics right? The safety is there, don’t point a loaded gun at your friends, oh do you know how to reload?” Tommy nodded and cocked the gun, firing it at the tree stump.  
“Wow. I… I guess I really don’t need to train you guys or anything.” Tommy laughed a bit.  
“It’s okay to be concerned Mister Freeman!” Gordon nodded and looked at the others.  
They really were all ready, except for Gordon. Gordon wasn’t prepared for whatever G-Man was planning. He went back to his shed and looked around. He had a crossbow with a pile of metal tipped arrows that he’d bring just in case. He gathered the 4 extra mags of pistol ammo he had ready, two for each pistol. Gordon picked an old duffel bag up off the ground and put the shotgun with a box of shotgun shells, the 4 extra mags, and the crossbow in the bag. He took the pistol and put it in his waistband for now while he looked for a box of pistol ammo because he knew they’d need it.  
Dread overwhelmed Gordon again as he stood in the shed when his phone suddenly dinged. It was an unknown number but Gordon knew damn well who it was.  
“24 hours Mister Freeman…”


	11. Death to the Space Demon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very long!!!

“Are you alright Mister Freeman?” Gordon jumped and spun to see Tommy.  
“Your dad just texted me…”  
“Oh, what’d he say Mister Freeman?”  
“Twenty four hours.” Gordon grabbed the duffel bag and walked out of the shed with Tommy.  
Bubby was torching snow balls Coomer would throw in the air while Benrey watched with an entertained smirk. Gordon watched for a bit before speaking up,  
“We have 24 hours.” Everyone turned their heads to Gordon.  
“That’s uh, not pog.”  
“He’s going to eat my fists Gordon!” Gordon smiled.  
“I need you guys to understand something serious okay? You guys can physically die okay? We aren’t in game anymore you can’t just respawn okay? You fucking can’t so please, please be fucking careful tomorrow.”  
“We know.” Bubby said.  
Gordon’s eyes went to Benrey who was looking at the sky, he was horrified they’d all lose each other. What would happen if Gordon died? What would the four of them do without him. He didn’t notice as he started to cry.  
“It’ll be okay Mister Freeman!” Tommy hugged him.  
“Yo don’t cry man, we like all love you bro.” Benrey walked over and joined the hug and then Bubby and Coomer joined. Gordon tried not to start balling but he couldn’t help it. He rested his head on Benrey’s shoulder since he was closest to him. Benrey kissed his head and kept hugging him after the others let go.  
“Nothings gonna like, happen bro. I promise okay man?” Gordon nodded, shaking a bit.  
“I love you…” The words still surprised Gordon when Benrey said them, he never knew Benrey could be so loving.  
“I love you too.” They shared a gentle kiss.  
“Young love! How beautiful!” Coomer said, clasping his hands together. Gordon laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, still looking at Benrey.  
“Let’s get inside, I’ll order us something and we can watch a movie before tomorrow happens.  
“That sounds like a great idea Gordon!” Coomer said, heading inside with Bubby.  
“Tommy, could you give us a moment?” Gordon asked, still wiping his tears away.  
“Of course Mister Freeman!” Tommy left the two be and went inside.  
“You uh, ok?” Benrey asked, tilting his head.  
“Look… If… If something happens to me tomorrow I want you to be prepared alright?” Benrey studied his eyes.  
“But like, nothings gonna happen bro.”  
“Benrey. You need to realize I might not live forever and with this stupid battle tomorrow I really, really don’t know it I’ll last.”  
“Dude calm down? Please?” Benrey sang out a beam of blue to him, Gordon swatted it away.  
“Now isn’t the time for that alright? You need to keep it in your head that I might not live to see what life will be life after tomorrow and I need you to be ready to look after my house with Coomer and have my funeral and all that depressing shit no one wants to talk about.” Gordon started to get heated.  
Benrey held back the urge to cry, “G-gordon that won’t like, h...happen.” His voice got shaky as he spoke.  
“It might and it’s about a fifty fifty chance that any of us live. We don’t know what G-Man is really capable of.” Gordon watched as Benrey started to cry.  
“S-stop saying that shit dude! It’s… It’s not poggers, it’s not… epic or anything. I won’t fucking let that like, happen bro. I won’t! I’ll keep us all safe idiot!” Gordon didn’t know how to react to Benrey aggressively crying in front of him.  
“I didn’t mean to upset you, I just wanted to be real with you… shit dude I’m… I’m sorry.” Gordon pulled him back into a hug.  
“I didn’t mean to uh… uh cry. It’s cringe.” His voice kept breaking, he was clearly struggling to talk.  
“It’s not Benrey… I like when you show emotions.” Benrey smiled, singing out purple to blue, gripping Gordon tighter.  
“It’ll hopefully be okay.” He rubbed circles into Benrey’s back.  
“I’ll give my life before you’re hurt.” Benrey muttered, Gordon almost didn’t catch it.  
“Don’t. I don’t want to live in a world without you.”  
“Well like, neither do I bro!” they stayed silent for a moment.  
“I just hope it won’t come to that then…” Gordon pulled from the hug to kiss Benrey. Benrey let his hands rest on Gordon’s hips. They didn’t move for a moment, enjoying the softness of each other's lips.  
“You sure you’ll be okay to do your whole eldritch being shit tomorrow?” Gordon asked as they pulled away from the embrace of each other's lips. Benrey cocked his lips into a smirk  
“Yeah dude, it’s like, natural.”  
“Okay… let’s head inside.” Gordon grabbed Benrey’s hand and walked with him inside. Gordon didn't want to spend a single second of the remainder of the day not being near or holding Benrey because what if something did happen tomorrow? What if today was the last day they’d ever share a kiss? What if today was the last time they’d ever be able to say I love you to each other?  
The two sat on the couch together. Tommy had gone out to walk Sunkist to introduce him to snow while Coomer played Super Punch Out! While Bubby sat between his legs watching.  
“What do you guys want for lunch?” Gordon asked while Benrey cuddled up to his side.  
“Something.” Bubby said, Commer chuckling at him.  
“Surprise us Gordon!”  
Gordon sighed and looked at his phone, trying to think of something to order while Benrey watched.  
“Yo what’s that?” Benrey pointed at a picture of some wings and fries.  
“You want wings?” Benrey nodded.  
“Okay, that’s something simple” Gordon started to place an order for some fries, hot and bbq wings, and a few cheese burgers.  
Tommy got home with Sunkist a little after Gordon placed the order.  
“Mister Freeman my dad called me!” Gordon sat up, Benrey mumbling as he sat up with him.  
“He- he has Darnold!” Tommy hadn’t seemed this distraught since the last time he called.  
“Darnold’s alive?!” Gordon said. “Does that mean Forzen’s alive?” Tommy sat on the arm of the couch.  
“He made a point to say he wasn’t…” Frozen may not have been the best person but it still hurt to know Gordon had basically murdered him.  
“Why does your dad have Darnold?” Bubby asked.  
“He’s trying to use him as a bargaining tool! He’s using him as a way to get me to go with him tomorrow!”  
“What- What’ll happen if you don’t go tomorrow.”  
“He’ll kill Darnold along with us!”  
“Well he won’t be fucking killing us because I won’t let that happen and I promise you Darnold will be just as safe as us tomorrow.” Tommy nodded nervously.  
“I’m really scared for him Mister Freeman…”  
“I know, I think we all are. Your dad’s pretty powerful.” Tommy nodded, he looked like he was holding back tears. Gordon stood and gave him a hug.  
“It’s a lot, I know. I know what it’s like to lose people and hell it isn’t easy but sometimes it needs to happen.” Tommy nodded and smiled at Gordon.  
“Gordon can be your new dad Tommy!” Coomer said, looking over to them.  
“Tommy’s older than me I-”  
“Could you Mister Freeman?!” Tommy looked at him like a sad puppy and Gordon could only sigh.  
“Sure. When we get the hell out of there tomorrow I can be your dad.”  
“Yooo does that mean I’m Tommy’s dad too?” Benrey chimed in with a smirk.  
“I can have two dads?!” Tommy gasped in shock.  
“Sure…” Gordon went back to sitting with Benrey, wrapping an arm around him.  
They waited till the doorbell rang and Gordon got up to pay for the food, taking it inside to his kitchen table. The group spent the rest of the day in mostly silence. Nobody really knew what to talk about and no one really knew how to distract from what was happening tomorrow.  
“Gordon?” Coomer said after a bit.  
“Yeah?”  
“What do we do if you… die?” All eyes were on Gordon except Benrey’s since he knew the answer.  
“Well… I’ll write something out tonight before bed that leaves the house and my money and everything I own to you guys. I want you guys to keep living if I fail to. I’ll make a video that Benrey will know how to upload for my followers online if… I die. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, I really, really don’t. If Tommy doesn’t know what his dad’s going to do then I don’t think anyone does. Tomorrow we will be fighting for our lives and I’m not going to hide that shit from you.” The room fell silent again.  
“Does it hurt to die?” Tommy asked.  
“I’ve never died so I wouldn’t know but I’ve been hurt and I can only assume that yes, it is painful. But it also matters how you die.” Gordon sighed.  
“It’s getting late… We should get as much rest as we can before tomorrow.”  
“Can we have a group hug Gordon?” Coomer asked. Gordon stood,  
“You never have to ask.” He smiled and everyone stood and hugged one another.  
“We can do this okay? No one’s going to die… I love you guys alright?”  
“We love you too Gordon.” Coomer said smiling.  
“Lets go get some rest okay?” They all nodded and dispersed to their rooms.  
Coomer and Bubby laid in bed, watching Tommy as he fell asleep with Sunkist on the pull out couch.  
“Is he asleep?” Bubby whispered.  
“I believe so Doctor.” Bubby opened his mouth then paused.  
“Did you just say Doctor?” Coomer nodded.  
“I don’t want to argue on the last day that we may be alive.  
“Harold don’t say that…”  
“Bubby it might be true, I don’t want to sugar coat it.” Bubby sighed and turned on his side to face Coomer. They shared a solemn smile as they kissed.  
“I have something I want to give to you before tomorrow.” Bubby muttered and sat up in bed. Coomer did the same. Bubby reached over to the dresser and grabbed a tattered black box.  
“I was damn lucky this survived the trip here.” Bubby laughed and showed him the box.  
He slowly opened it to show two rings. Both were gold bands, one with flames engraved into it and the other ring had boxing gloves engraved on it.  
“Harold, will you marry me after this shit is over?” Coomer was at a loss of words.  
“Well I… Of course!” He smiled, holding back tears. Bubby slipped the ring engraved with flames onto Coomer’s finger while Coomer slipped the other ring onto Bubby’s finger.  
“I didn’t want to make a big deal about it quite yet but, I felt like it was time.”  
Coomer kissed him warmly and laid back down with him in his arms.  
“I love you Harold.”  
“I love you two Bubby.”  
Gordon sat at his desk, finishing up his makeshift will. He had just finished his goodbye video that explained he’d be quitting streaming instead of saying that he died. Benrey laid in his bed staring at the ceiling.  
“Are you uh, done yet cringeman?”  
“Just signing the paper.” He mumbled then got up, turning off his desk lamp and climbing into bed with Benrey.  
“Can you.. Hold me?”  
“Wha…? You uh, wanna be a baby man hm?” Gordon rolled his eyes and placed his head on Benrey’s chest.  
“Yeah I guess I do…” Gordon mumbled, wrapping his arms around Benrey.  
“That's like, baby. You’re baby bro.” Benrey rubbed Gordon’s back.  
“How did you get so fucking buff by the way.”  
“Huh? Oh- I uh, don’t know. I’m just built different.” Gordon laughed and looked up at him.  
“Smartass.” He kissed him gently, cupping his face. It still gave Benrey butterflies when they kissed, he enjoyed how warm and gentle Gordon was when their lips met.  
“Was I uh, your first kiss?” Benrey suddenly asked.  
“Yeah actually.” Gordon kissed his cheek, “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Benrey blushed and sang out a few bubbles.  
“Your voice is beautiful, you know that right?”  
“That’s uh, dumb.” Benrey scoffed.  
“Do you think you could sing to me…?” Gordon asked nervously.  
Benrey looked at him like he was joking but then leaned back and softly sang a tune he made up, the occasional bubble floating from his mouth. Gordon felt himself grow drowsy and eventually he fell asleep in the safety of Benrey’s arms.  
Benrey didn’t sleep for another hour or so, he was scared to close his eyes. He thought that the second he’d open them again Gordon wouldn’t be in his arms. He couldn’t help but morph into his real form, he kept all six arms around Gordon, taking up most of the bed in his large form. It made him feel safer and he was finally able to fall asleep.  
Gordon stirred as his alarm rang and groaned, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t realize the large being next to him until he opened his eyes and saw eight staring back at him.  
“Jeasus Benrey!” Gordon put a hand on his chest.  
“I was uh, scared bro…” Gordon smiled and kissed Benrey’s cheek.  
“Guess you’re not just a blanket hog hm?” Gordon chuckled looking at the arms wrapped around him, he felt oddly safe in his monster boyfriend’s arms.  
“I’ll steal your whole bed bro!” He cackled.  
“Your form doesn’t stretch out my clothes right?” Benrey shook his head, shifting back to his normal form..  
“Nah, pretty pog right?” He took off the sweater, handing it to Gordon.  
“You have arms?!” Gordon laughed, looking him over. Benrey’s arms were well built and the tank top allowed Gordon to gaze at them all he wanted but Gordon couldn’t concern himself with how hot the eldritch computer virus was, he knew today was the day. He kissed Benrey for a while before sitting up.  
“Well… let’s go get the others.”  
“Wait.” Benrey grabbed his arm before he could stand.  
“I love you Gordon…” Gordon smiled and pulled him into a hug.  
“I love you too.” They stood together, Gordon grabbed a change of clothes while Benrey went to the spare room.  
“Yo where is everyone Tommy?” Beney asked, grabbing his Black Mesa uniform.  
“Oh! They’re making breakfast!” Benrey smiled,  
“Why aren’t ya out there with em?” Tommy giggled a bit and got up to whisper in his ear,  
“They’re having a makeshift date.” Benrey chuckled  
“That’s pog.” He left to go to the bathroom to change.  
Gordon walked into the living room and smiled when he saw Coomer and Bubby sitting at the kitchen table with some shitty candles they had found. Tommy, Benrey, and Sunkist walked up behind Gordon and looked at them.  
“Hello Gordon!” Coomer noticed the 3 that had gathered at the doorway. Bubby got red in the face.  
“I made uh, pancakes.” Bubby said, looking at Gordon.  
“Really? I didn’t know you could cook.” Gordon chuckled and walked to the kitchen, Benrey and Tommy trailing behind. It was a nice start to a dreadful day. After breakfast something felt wrong, very wrong. Gordon grabbed the duffel bag from where he had left it yesterday.  
“Tommy… You still have your gun right?” Tommy nodded, putting his hat on his head. Benrey had changed out the beanie for his helmet. Bubby, Coomer, and Tommy had put their scientist uniforms on to be formal.  
“You all feel that right?” Gordon asked as they all stood tense in the living room. There was a sudden, explosive life sound from outside the house.  
“What the fuck was that?!” Bubby yelled.  
Gordon strapped the duffel bag to his back and pulled out his own pistol. He approached the front door and swung it open.  
“You have to be shitting me.” G-Man had brought Xen to them.  
“At Least it’s a familiar landscape.” Gordon grumbled.  
“He stole my- my fuckin’ idea. Not cool bro.” The group followed Gordon outside of his house onto the floating island it sat on.  
They looked around the familiar space.  
“Darnold!” Tommy cried and ran towards a figure that stood at the far end of the island.  
“Tommy no!” Gordon cried, he knew it was a trap. He watched as an alien tentacle grabbed the two and held them in place.  
“Oh shit!” Bubby cried.  
“He won’t kill his own son.” Gordon muttered, his grip on his gun was tight.  
To their horror they saw a larger than life G-Man appear in front of them. He had what looked to be some sort of rock armour over his suit.  
“Hello Mister Freeman… It looks like you made the...very poor choice of not just letting my son go… You could still turn back, you know.” Gordon frowned,  
“I’m not leaving him with you, he deserve’s the life I’ve given him.”  
“You like, totally got your inspiration off me bro. Not pog bro.” Benrey yelled at G-Man who stared at him in confusion.  
“M… Mister Freeman I advise you turn back now or… Face your eternal doom.”  
“Coomer, your secret player feature is enabled right?”  
“It always is Gordon.” He smirked as the sleeves of his lab coat started to rip at the seams.  
“You’re all… so foolish.”  
“Yo uh, shut the fuck up.” Benrey crossed his arms.  
G-Man scowled at him and spawned a car out of thin air and flung it toward Benrey.  
“Benrey move!” Gordon cried. Benrey smirked and disappeared as the car collided with the ground. Three skeletons emerged from behind the car.  
“You picked the wrong motherfuckers to mess with!” Bubby yelled nodding to Coomer who had picked up a large boulder. He threw it in the air and Bubby lit it on fire, it was like a meteor. The fiery rock collided with part of G-Man’s rock covering, making it chip away severely.  
The three Skeletons distracted G-Man like a bunch of mosquitoes. He swatted at them while Bubby and Coomer threw another rock at the same plate of armor. It fell to the ground crumbling to pieces. Tommy and Darnold cheered them on.  
Gordon worked on shooting at the chest plate, it was risky to be that close but Benrey’s skeletons kept G-Man distracted. The multiple mags only did so much damage and eventually the skeletons had been swatted away. G-Man’s attention instantly turned to Gordon. He spawned another car and hurtled it down at Gordon. Coomer and Bubby were quick to fire another meteor at the car, smashing it to metallic bits. Gordon was too amazed to notice a large sheet of metal coming for his leg. He held a scream as the metal dug into his thigh. He couldn’t stand on the leg, it hurt too much. Luckily he was next to a large boulder which he hid behind as he looked at the wound in horror. The boulder happened to be next to where Tommy and Darnold were trapped.  
“Mister Freeman!” Gordon held a finger to his lips as he aimed at the tentacle and shot it. The tentacle retracted in agony and dropped the two to the ground. They ran over and hid with Gordon.  
“Oh my that’s quite the wound.” Darnold said looking at it.  
“I know.” He groaned through his clenched teeth.  
Coomer and Bubby tried to hold off G-Man the best they could together. Bubby had tried to light him on fire but the armour prevented him from doing so even with the parts they knocked off.  
“Where the hell is Benrey?!” Bubby yelled, lighting the car that Coomed had thrown back at G-Man on fire. They wouldn’t be able to last for much longer before they got too exhausted.  
Another darkness rolled over the island though. Something more… sinister. A large, black, glitchy claw caught the next car that was hurled by G-Man. Coomer and Bubby made their way to where Gordon was. They knew who it was.  
“There’s no fucking way that’s Benrey.” Bubby muttered as they watched 5 more claws grab the base of the island and pulled up Benrey’s glitchy body to a standing position. He was huge. The glitching in his body was more severe then what Gordon had seen before, Mouths and other eyes had formed along with the spikes Gordon had seen. Benrey had a toothy grin plastered on his shadowed face, it was wider than normal.  
“And so the virus has come back…” G-Man bellowed.  
“Yeah because You’re uh, lame bro.” Benrey’s voice was distorted.  
“And you’re nothing but a child…”  
“That’s uh… false.”  
G-Man reached for the bolder the science team was hiding behind. Benrey was quick to lunge forward and grip G-Man's arm and shove him back.  
“Leave them alone man. Not cool of you to uh fuck with the science team.” He smirked slyly.  
G-Man was done playing games and lunged at Benrey, grabbing his shoulder. Benrey’s body glitched and a spike jolted through G-Man’s flesh. Benrey used another set of hands to shove him off. Benrey charged G-Man, shoving him to the ground. He didn’t give G-Man a chance to summon anything as he landed multiple punches into his face and chest.  
“Yo I’m gonna BEAT YOU TO FUCKING DEATH.” Gordon watched over the boulder and Benrey landed another punch into G-Man’s chest before he knocked the wind out of him, his body shrinking, but before he lost consciousness he managed to summon a trailer above benrey that he didn’t notice. The trailed landed on Benrey’s back, knocking him into the ground with a groan. Gordon got stood, it hurt like hell but he limped his way to Benrey.  
“Yooo what the fuck man?” He groaned.  
“Benrey!” Gordon cried and fell to the ground near his face.  
“Yo!”  
“Are you okay? Oh my god please tell me you’re okay!” He scooted close to his face and put his hand on his jaw.  
“It’s like a uh rock bro. I’m all good!” He chuckled and poked a claw at Gordon.  
“Okay… Thank god.” He hugged his finger and smiled.  
Benrey let himself get back to his normal form as the others rushed over and restrained G-Man.  
“That’s a nasty wound dude. Gordon uh Woundman.” Gordon rolled his eyes and turned to where G-Man laid, his arms restrained by Coomer.  
“Tommy…” G-Man coughed out, he was barely able to open his eyes.  
“What do you want dad.” Tommy stood about him, looking down at him with rage.  
“You must… take my powers still… When I die…”  
“I know dad.” Tommy cocked his pistol and without hesitation fired it into his dad’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I have a freehoun fic also up now! Please go check it out! I also have a linktree


	12. What Comes Next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a much shorter Chapter!! I have school starting tomorrow and I was pretty unmotivated today

“Oh my god Tommy!” Bubby said, looking at Tommy. Tommy stayed silent as he dropped to his knees holding the gun. He suddenly groaned in agony, holding his head.  
“T-tommy?!” Gordon said, trying to stand, groaning. Benrey stood and helped Gordon over to where everyone gathered around Tommy.  
“Let’s get him in the house.” Gordon held onto Benrey. Coomer picked him up and they rushed back to the house. Gordon had to look back to make sure G-Man was truly dead. His corpse laid there in the distance, he had met his demise. Benrey shut the door and laid Gordon on the couch. Benrey kneeled by his side and held his hand.  
“You’ll like, be okay bro.” Gordon chuckled,  
“Y-yeah. I know.” The two looked where Tommy sat in the leather chair, still gripping his head with Darnold in front of him, kneeling on the ground.  
“Tommy?” Darnold put a hand on his leg, Tommy was unresponsive as he held his head, groaning.  
Everyone watched Tommy in silence, minus a grunt of two from Gordon. Tommy eventually let his hands fall to his side as he leaned his head back, dazed.  
“G-guys?” He looked around the room, blinking.  
“Oh thank god. We thought you were going to explode.” Bubby said, standing with Coomer who nodded in agreeance.  
“I’m okay! My dad just… he transferred it all to me… and it hurt a little.” Gordon groaned and sat up.  
“Shit Tommy, you shot your dad, are you sure you’re all good?”  
“Yes! I. I knew I had to do that…” Tommy sighed and smiled slightly.  
“Yo so what uh powers you got?” Benrey said, smirking.  
“Oh! I can teleport, summon things, stop items in motion, and my eyes can glow yellow!”  
“Wonderful Tommy!” Coomer said.  
Darnold had walked over to Gordon and examined his leg.  
“I have to say, I was surprised when I woke up in the hands of your father Tommy, I thought I was gone for sure.”  
“I’m sorry Darnold…” Gordon muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.  
“It’s okay Gordon, I understand not everyone can be rescued. I heard Benrey was very lucky he survived.” Darnold checked out Gordon’s wound more.  
“Do you have a first aid kit?”  
“It’s under my sink in the kitchen.” Bubby left to grab it and gave it to Darnold.  
“Here.” He went back to standing by Coomer.  
Darnold worked on getting the metal out of his leg, cleaning the wound, and then stitching it.  
“Thank you so much Darnold.” Gordon smiled, looking at his leg.  
“Of course, thank you for rescuing me.” Darnold smiled.  
“What happens now Gordon?” Coomer asked, looking over at Gordon.  
“Oh… Well, I don’t know. Take a road trip together?” Gordon looked outside, realizing they were back in his quiet suburb.  
“BBBBBROAD TRIP AH HA HA!” Benrey cackled. Gordon smiled warmly.  
“Other than that… We’ll see what life brings us.” Gordon looked at everyone and sighed.  
“Can Darnold stay with us?” Tommy asked.  
“Yeah of course! I wouldn’t just throw him out into a world he’s never experienced!” Gordon chuckled.  
“Oh good!” Tommy hugged Darnold who awkwardly hugged back.  
They spent the rest of the day telling Darnold what they knew and going through the basics of the real world. After that, they showed Darnold video games while Coomer pulled Gordon aside.  
“Gordon… Bubby and I have decided we wish to get married.” Gordon smiled,  
“Wait, really?” Coomer nodded.  
“Oh shit, that’s. That’s honestly adorable. Well, it’s a lot of planning but. I’ll help you two.” He pulled Coomer into a hug.  
“When do you and Benrey plan to, you know… tie the knot?” Gordon’s face turned red.  
“We’ve b-barely been dating a week Dr. Coomer.”  
“Well it’s never too early to start planning.” Coomer smiled and joined Bubby on the floor.  
Gordon rubbed his face, joining Benrey on the couch.  
“You uh, you okay tomato head?” Benrey asked, wrapping an arm around him.  
“Y-yeah, I’m good.”  
“What uh, did Dr. Coomer tell ya?”  
“Bubby and him are getting married.”  
“Poggers.” Gordon chuckled, glad he left it at that.  
Maybe Coomer was right, maybe they could start thinking that way. He glanced at Benrey, he knew the idiot would want to wear a dress so that’s one thing he had to save for. He smiled to himself, he’s never imagined himself watching someone walk down the isle and taking his last name, did Benrey even have a last name to replace? He looked over at the other and smiled.  
“I like your big monster form.” Gordon said, looking at Benrey, “It was really brave what you did.” Gordon planted a kiss on his head.  
“Thanks feetman.” He rested his head on his shoulder.  
“Do you ever think about marriage?” Gordon rolled his lips.  
“Uh, yeah.” He chuckled, “Why? Does uh cringeman want to get uh, married? Wanna put a ring on me?”   
“One day, if we stay together long enough... “ Gordon watched as Benrey’s face turned a slight shade of pink.  
“I’d uh, be down. Do I like, get to wear a dress and shit?” Gordon knew he’d ask.  
“Sure.” He smiled as he saw pure happiness wash over Benrey’s face.  
Tommy sat next to Darnold, showing him how to play Super Punch Out! While Tommy told Darnold about what happened after they left his lab.  
“So… Benrey was dead?”  
“Yes! But, he made himself again!”  
“How… peculiar.... And what about Gordon’s arm?”  
“He never lost it in real life, it was all in game!”  
“That’s quite odd…” Darnold rubbed his chin.  
“We can also change clothes! And Sunkist has a collar now so he never gets lost!” Darnold smiled, listening to Tommy ramble on.  
“Do I get to experience clothes shopping…?” Tommy looked at Gordon who nodded.  
“We could go tomorrow.” Gordon said, watching the two chat.  
“Tommy, how long did you know Darnold before we all met in his lab?” Gordon asked, holding Benrey while he rested on his chest.  
“Oh! He showed me around Black Mesa my first day of work actually!”  
“Oh, that’s… A lot longer than I expected.” Gordon looked to Bubby and Coomer who were both on their phones, seemingly texting each other. He rolled his eyes and heard his own phone ding. He looked at them and then pulled out his phone, looking at the text group the two added him to.  
Bubby: I think we figured out who Tommy likes.  
Coomer: We believe Tommy likes Darnold!  
Gordon: Well, that’s a bit obvious. Tommy hasn’t looked away from Darnold in hours it seems.  
Coomer: I think we should help him on the road trip!  
Gordon: Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Should we make a run to get like, flowers and shit?  
Coomer: Wonderful Idea!  
Gordon put his phone away and stood,  
“Hey, I’m going to uh run to the store. If Darnold get’s tired can you show him where he’ll be sleeping with Tommy on the pull out bed? Maybe give him some clothes?” he winked at Coomer.  
“Of course Gordon! Be safe!”  
Gordon nodded and left for the store.


	13. Road Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It gets pretty angsty in the middle, just a small warning. I promise I'll have more interactions with Darnold next chapter.

Gordon looked around the store thinking of cute things you’d give someone you wanted to date. Benrey was easy, just give him a whole pizza and some soda and he was pretty much happy so Gordon really didn’t have any experience in the “Romantically asking someone out on a road trip” department. Gordon grabbed a bouquet of flowers, that was a simple one, right? He thought back to highschool prom, what did kids do back then for tokens of love? Candy. But what would Darnold like? Gordon grabbed a pack of assorted candies. He then picked up a few things of powerade, some candles, a picnic blanket and a basket.   
Before leaving he decided to get two twin air mattresses since he only had two back at the house. It was also something to cover up why he left the house. Gordon checked out and then left back to his truck. The idea of marriage stuck in his head the whole ride home. It was wayyy too soon for him to even think about marrying Benrey, what if something happened? What if he tried to kill them again or something happened? It wasn’t something for him to worry about right now, right now he needed to help Bubby and Coomer find their forever happiness and hopefully be a matchmaker for Tommy.   
“I’m back!” Gordon said walking in. Thankfully Darnold and Tommy were in the kitchen, distracted with soda.   
Gordon made a quick v-line to his room, hiding the bags in his closet.  
“Hey Feetman.” Benrey said with a grin on his face.  
“Shit!” He jumped, flipping around, “Jesus you scared me! I thought you were Tommy.”  
“Nope it’s me bro!” He cackled and walked over to him, kissing him softly.  
“Hm… Sorry, did I upset you by leaving? I realize I didn’t tell you…” He whispered against Benrey’s lips.  
“It’s okay bro.” Benrey planted another kiss on his lips. “Bubby filled ol’ Benrey in.” Gordon smiled and held his hips.  
“Do you think they’ll like camping?” Benrey shrugged.  
“We’ll uh, just have to find out tomorrow won’t we Feetman.” Gordon chuckled and let go of Benrey,  
“I’ll go say goodnight to the others and let them know we’re leaving early in the morning.” He smiled and left Benrey alone in the room.   
Benrey turned to his reflection in the mirror taking off his helmet slowly. He couldn’t believe that he was real still, it was still a lot for him to process. He could barely stare at himself and see someone that wasn’t bad. He felt he was bad still, no matter how much good Gordon said he was doing. Maybe he shouldn't have come here, the only reason he really came was for Gordon and to redeem himself. Gordon would’ve been fine without him there. He took off his Kevlar vest and placed it on the floor with his helmet. Benrey looked back to the mirror, trying to look himself in the eyes and refrain from breaking down.  
“Ben-” Gordon paused in the doorway, looking as Benrey leaned his head against the mirror, crying to himself while he sang out teal bubbles that filled the room. Tommy walked by the door and stopped, watching as Gordon staired. He walked into his room slightly and whispered to him.  
“A…A lot of teal means he doesn’t know if he wants to be real…” Tommy left the room quickly, slightly closing the door.  
Gordon slowly walked over to Benrey, being careful not to spook him.  
“Hey…” Gordon said gently, putting a hand on Benrey’s back as he turned away to the mirror more.  
“Benrey, what’s wrong.” He kept his hand on his back and stood next to him but slightly behind him, making sure to not crowd him.   
“I-I’m sorry I came here.” His voice broke between words.  
“Wait what? Why? Benrey I know I wasn’t expecting it but we all love you!” Benrey sighed shakely,  
“I-I like… Shouldn’t be here bro… I was bad… I can’t just uh b-be good…” Gordon pulled him close, getting him away from the mirror.  
“You aren’t bad… don’t say that… not anymore.” Gordon hugged him tightly.  
“You warned me, remember? You tried to get me to go back so many times in our journey because you knew. You wanted to be good! Your mind was just… fuzzy. I… I know you Benrey! You just don’t know how to use your words and that’s fine…” Benrey turned his head to the side, avoiding Gordon’s face.  
“I don’t see myself in the mirror… I see someone not bad and that’s uh, not good…” Gordon rubbed his back,  
“Benrey, that is good. You can be good. Your actions don’t account to the person, or uh anomaly, you’ve strived to become. You’re really something Benrey, and I mean that as a compliment… Remember? When you said you didn’t want to be bad, but I made you bad? You were right. In a weird way, you were right… You were just protecting your friends and, I can’t have an uncontrollable hate for that, not anymore at least. The others don’t hate you either! We all love you Benrey, course me more then others, but we all love having you here and I would’ve regretted losing you deep down if you hadn’t made your way here… I love you Benrey and I can’t have you leave… You’re my little passport guardian.” Gordon smiled a bit, ruffling Benrey’s hair. Benrey stayed silent but the teal in the room started to die down.  
“Looking at yourself in a mirror isn’t… ever easy. I know how that feels too. I struggled for years after I moved out of my house trying to see myself as someone I liked. I couldn’t look at pictures, I couldn’t really be around people or family and that’s when I started to lose friends because they didn’t understand. I know how it feels to not really feel like yourself… Your body doesn’t feel like your own and you can’t stand to look yourself in the eyes because it just isn’t you. You need to find yourself still, this is a whole new situation for you, for everyone. I’m sure the others feel like this too. You need to take your time that’s all. Don’t try to rush into understanding yourself, it’s a whole process, especially since you aren’t human so it might be different, way different, for you. That’s okay though, it just means you’re unique, everyone’s unique…” Benrey had turned his head slightly to Gordon, he was only crying a bit.  
“Some nights you’ll feel like you don’t belong, or maybe every night, because you aren’t human. I know I got on your case for it… I regret that severely… But you don’t need to be human to fit in, you don’t need to be “Normal”, you just need to be you Benrey! Good ol’ Benrey right?” He earned a small laugh and nod from Benrey. Gordon decided to keep talking,  
“Watching you turn into your natural form was amazing! It was… Poggers. If you ever feel the need to do that, if it feels better in that form just warn me, okay? And make sure we aren’t like, at Gamestop or whatever. We accept you, we all do, and I love you. I’ll love you every fucking day till my flesh falls from my body, and my muscles and nerves fall from my bones. Who knows, you’d probably find out some fucking way to make me a walking skeleton and hell, I’d be fine with it if I got to wake up and see you every single morning.” Benrey had fully turned his head, listening contently to Gordon ramble on.  
“I uh… love you too?” He smiled, his face still wet from tears.   
Gordon kissed the side of his head and sighed.  
“Can we go sit? My leg hurts like a bitch.” Benrey laughed a bit and nodded, wiping his face off with his button up.  
“S-sure Gordon uh, painman.” Gordon chuckled and slightly limped to the bed, he had changed into a pair of shorts and a clean shirt already.  
“You know one day you’ll be Benrey Feetman if you aren’t careful.” He laughed, laying back on his bed.  
“Whatever you say loser.” He stuck his tongue out before grabbing Gordon’s sweater to put on for bed.   
Benrey jumped onto the bed and laid down with Gordon.  
“You’re uh, pretty good and those uh, pep talk things bro.” Benrey said, looking at the ceiling.  
“I guess, it’s only because I had such a rough time when I was young.”  
“You can uh, always talk to me bro.” Benrey held Gordon’s hand.  
“Maybe another time Benrey, I want you to be okay before we get too deep into my personal issues.” Gordon rolled on his side and kissed Benrey’s cheek.  
“I love you.” Benrey said, turning to Gordon.  
“I love you too…” He had already closed his eyes.  
Benrey stayed awake, watching Gordon all night.  
“Hm…” Gordon stirred awake, opening his eyes and smiling at Benrey. He was used to him watching him sleep by now.  
“How’s feetmans leg?” Gordon sat up a bit, rubbing his eyes. He bent his injured leg up and down.  
“Mh. Definitely still hurts, but better than yesterday.” Benrey turned his back to Gordon and lifted the sweater showing off his large back bruise from the truck trailer.  
“Is it like, bad?” Benrey asked. Gordon poked it, receiving a hiss from Benrey.  
“Yeah.” Gordon laughed, kissing his back as he pulled down the sweater.  
“Do you mind waking the others? I’m going to load the truck.” Benrey nodded, kissing him softly before standing and leaving the room.  
Gordon got up and changed, then grabbed the bags he had stored in his closet and took them out to his truck, putting them in the passenger seat. He then went outback and grabbed his 8-person tent. He had bought it for a camping trip he planned with some old friends but they never got around to it. He threw it in the back of his truck with his duffel bag of weapons, you never know.  
Gordon went back inside and smiled, seeing everyone chatting amongst themselves while they rotated getting changed in the guest room and bathroom. Gordon packed a large cooler with water and sode and then used another smaller cooler for some hot dogs they could make, condiments, and some sandwiches. Bubby came up to him with Coomer while he was in the kitchen.  
“What’d you get for them?” Bubby asked.  
“A couple things, flowers, candy, powerade. You’ll see.” He smiled, finishing packing the cooler and then grabbing some marshmallows.   
“Wonderful ideas Gordon!” Coomer and Bubby went back to the living room.  
“Mister Freeman?” Gordon smiled, turning to Tommy.  
“Whats up? You can call me Gordon by the way Tommy, I don’t think I ever said that…”  
“Could… Could Sunkist come? I know he’s a big dog but-”  
“Of course! Just make sure the others are ready for an hour long ride of dog hair in their face.” Tommy smiled widely and hugged Gordon.  
“Hey, Tommy. Can I, ask you something?” He whispered a bit.  
“What is it?” Tommy whispered back.  
“Do you like Darnold?..” Tommy blushed a deep shade of red.  
“Don’t tell him Mis- Gordon!” He whisper yelled, looking behind him to see if anyone was there before leaning into his ear,  
“Yes.” Gordon chuckled a bit,  
“Well, Coomer and Bubby have made me your official match maker. I have flowers, a few gifts, and a small picnic date planned for you too.” Tommy smiled widely.  
“That’s very kind of you Gordon! That’s… That’s the perfect gift to give your new son!” Gordon smiled as Tommy left the kitchen, happier then he'd been since he first got here.  
Gordon loaded the truck with the coolers and came back with a smile.  
“Alright, everythings packed. We’re set to go!”  
“ROADDD TRIPPP HA HA HA” Benrey was first out the door, the others followed. Gordon left and locked the door, getting in the truck and starting the long drive.  
“There’s a McDonalds on the way to the place we’re going, what do you guys want?” They all pulled out their phones, Tommy showing Darnold the menu and explaining various food items to him.  
“I’ll ummm… A Large Sprite and uh cheeseburger.” Benrey said with a smirk.  
“Bubby and I will split a coca cola and a large fry with some pancakes!”  
“Darnold’s going to share pancakes with me and a blue powerade!”  
Gordon pulled into the drive thru, only getting a large fry for himself and then the rest of the orders.  
“Please don’t spill in the car or on Sunkist.” Gordon said, eating his fries and driving. It was a surprisingly quiet drive to the secret campsite Gordon knew about.   
It was a nice place, out in the forest far enough so you couldn’t hear the cars from the highway and close enough to a stream nearby so you could hear the running water.   
“We’re here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut off this chapter before it got too lengthy, I just got back to school so updates may take more then a day just so you all know! Regarding the angst-I know I throw a handful of angst in the story and it's constant interaction after interaction between Gordon and Benrey with maybe Bubby and Coomer every three chapters. I hope this isn't bothering anyone, but I wanted to adress it. I see a lot of opportunity between Gordon and Benrey to write angst, and writing angst is a bit of a coping mechanism so thats why I write about their relationship more then the others. Thank you guys for the constant support, I'll be making art for the fic in the near feature too! My instagram is in the Linktree link


	14. Familiar Sounds

“I’ll start setting up the tent, how about you guys take a look around.” Gordon hopped out of the truck, going to the bed to grab the tent.  
Tommy got out with Sunkist and Darnold while Benrey, Coomer, and Bubby stayed in the truck.  
“So like, what’s the plan.” Benrey asked, showing them the bag of everything Gordon had got.  
“Well, we should first find a spot for them to have a lunch date!” Coomer said with a smile.  
“We have to make sure Tommy has the nerves to ask him.” Bubby grumbled, he seemed really tired.  
Benrey opened the door and looked at Tommy.  
“Tommy!” He yelled.  
“Hi!” Tommy left Sunkist with Darnold who was investigating a flowering bush and jogged over to Benrey.  
“So uh, we got you and Darnold a little fuckin’ lunch date. You just uh, gotta ask em.”  
“N-now?! I don’t know if I can do that…” He looked back at where Darnold was.  
“Well duh not now, it’s like 7 in the fucking morning, ask him before we all go eat lunch then.” Tommy looked at Bubby nervously.  
“What do I even say!”  
“Just uh… Give em the flowers, and then like ask him? We got you like,” Benrey looked in the bag,  
“A whole basket you guys can take and a blanket. It’ll uh, be cute.” Tommy smiled,  
“Thank you guys! I’ll… I’ll let you know before I ask!” He ran back off to Darnold.   
Benrey smirked and turned back to Coomer and Bubby,  
“I’m uh, gonna go help Feetman.” Benrey started to get out of the truck.  
“Wait Benrey.” Bubby said, leaning on the front seats, looking at him,  
“How are you two doing?”  
“We’re uh fine bro, why do ya ask?”   
“Just checking, we’d hate to see you two in any discourse…” Bubby said, smiling a bit.  
Benrey smiled back a bit before jumping out of the truck and running over to help Gordon who definitely needed it.  
“Do you think I shouldn’t have brought up the idea of marriage to Gordon yesterday?” Coomer asked Bubby as they got out of the truck and looked around the area.  
Bubby shrugged, “I don’t know how Gordon feels on the topic but, I don’t think he’s loved someone in years.” Bubby glanced over to where Benrey was hitting Gordon with one of the support sticks while he read the set up guide and rolled his eyes,  
“I think it may have surprised him but, I don’t think he hates the idea at all. Neither does Benrey.” Coomer smiled and looked off into the dense forest.  
“It’s too early isn’t it? For them to know.” Coomer said, his hand finding Bubby’s while they stood.  
“I would think so Harold.” Bubby yawned and looked around, his eyes falling on a singular yellow flower sticking out of a patch of snow. He knelt down to pick it, then placed in Coomer’s hair. Coomer smiled warmly and held both Bubby’s hands, sharing a gentle kiss with him.  
“I enjoy these moments.” Coomer said, looking at their intertwined hands.  
“I do too, I enjoy being free, especially with you.” Bubby put a hand to Coomer’s cheek and leaned in, slightly grazing their lips together before fully connecting them in a tight kiss. So warm and blissful, something the two only experienced on rare occasions at Black Mesa, they couldn’t help but indulge themselves in a tight and loving embrace.  
Tommy and Darnold looked at the different flowers that were blooming around the area of their campsite.  
“I’ve never seen a plant like this before.” Darnold said, marveling at each plant.  
Tommy looked over at Coomer and Bubby and then back to Darnold. He leaned down and picked a purple wildflower. When Darnold turned to him, he placed it behind Darnold’s ear and smiled,  
“I- I think the color suits you!” He beamed.  
“Oh, well I… Thank you Tommy.” Darnold smiled and felt the flower with the tips of his fingers.  
“Of course Darnold!” He smiled widely, bursting with happiness.  
Darnold continued to examine everything around him while Tommy watched, studying Darnold.  
“Oh my god Benrey.” Gordon face palmed as he watched Benrey climb into the half put together tent.  
“Can’t we uh, sleep like this bro?” Gordon knelt down and looked at Benrey in the tent,  
“We can’t cuddle comfortably…” Benrey quickly climbed out of the tent and snatched the guide from Gordon, reading it, then getting to work, quickly putting up the large tent.   
“Well… That… Could have been so much easier. Wow…” Gordon chuckled and started to unbox the air mattresses.   
Benrey smirked, watching Gordon before looking up into the morning sky. He never realized how much he liked the outdoors. It was pleasant to stand outside and feel the open air on his skin. He drew his attention back to Gordon, kneeling to help him the the mattresses.

“Okay guys, tents ready!” Gordon called, grabbing the coolers from his truck..  
The group walked over, inspecting the tent which had its own separate rooms for each air mattress. It was nice and private. Gordon placed the coolers in the middle part of the tent, along with the duffel bag. Gordon turned to Darnold and Tommy,  
“I hope the room situation isn’t awkward for you two.” He said. He’d hate to make them uncomfortable.  
“Oh it’s quite alright Gordon, me and Tommy get along well, sharing a bed and room is really no problem.” Darnold smiled, petting Sunkist.  
Gordon nodded and smiled at the others. He held it in, but god he wanted to cry in happiness. He wasn’t used to being surrounded by friends or doing fun things with friends but it felt so nice to finally get to do the things people always talked about doing with their friend groups.   
“Are you alright Gordon?” Tommy asked.  
“Hm? Oh, of course.”   
“Good!” Tommy hugged Gordon tightly,  
“This is so much fun already! My dad never took me to places like this.” Tommy said, looking out the mesh window of the tent.  
“Well, that’s why I’m your dad now, right?”  
“Exactly!”  
“Wait Tommy, Gordon’s your father now?” Darnold asked, walking into the conversation.  
“Yes! He… He adopted me!”  
“Well I don’t have any papers that support that but… Yeah, I mean I’m younger but, everyone deserves a parent figure that treats them well in their lives…” Gordon’s voice trailed off at the last part. Darnold nodded,  
“So does that mean if you and Benrey tie the knot, Tommy will have two dads?”  
“I… I guess?”  
“That’s amazing Tommy!” Darnold chuckled a bit, turning to Tommy.  
“T-thank you!” Tommy smiled proudly and Darnold went over to the coolers.  
Tommy waited till he was out of earshot before leaning into Gordon’s ear,  
“I’m asking him out to lunch, When is lunch?” Gordon looked at the time on his phone,  
“Give it an hour but, I think We’ll hike up to this waterfall and bring lunch with us.” Tommy smiled, “Perfect.” Tommy winked and joined Darnold.  
Benrey joined Gordon, handing him a soda,   
“I uh, love you man.” Benrey said, drinking his soda.  
“I love you too Benrey.” He put an arm around his waist and pulled him close into a kiss.  
Benrey couldn’t help but turn pink, he always enjoyed Gordon’s surprises.  
“You’re uh, pretty gay feetman.” Gordon laughed,  
“Wow really? I didn’t know.” They both laughed, Gordon thought it was adorable that you could see the points of Benrey’s teeth in his mouth when he laughed.  
“What are you two laughing at?” Bubby grumbler, his hands stuffed in his pockets.  
Someone wasn’t a morning person..  
“Benrey just informed me I’m gay.” Coomer gasped,  
“Benrey! It’s never okay to out someone without their permission.” Coomer couldn’t help but crack up.  
“Okay okay, do you guys want to go explore and find a place to eat lunch?” Gordon slightly looked at Tommy as he said this.  
“What a wonderful idea Gordon! I do love exploring!” Coomer smiled.  
“Well, I’ll grab a backpack from my truck to take food in.” Gordon left the tent and went to his truck.  
Coomer and Bubby had thrown together the picnic basket for Tommy and Darnold already, the flowers slightly stuck out of it and the blanket was attached on top. Benrey took the basket from one of the separate rooms in the tent and walked it over to Tommy,  
“Uh, special delivery bro.” He handed it off to Tommy and smirked, walking back over to Coomer and Bubby.  
“What is that Tommy?” Tommy could barely muster up the courage to speak to Darnold.  
“O-oh! It’s, a basket! I thought maybe, we could have a mini picnic together!” Tommy looked back to the others for reassurance, Benrey gave him a thumbs up.  
“Oh, I would enjoy that, yes.” Darnold smiled kindly.  
Gordon came back with an empty backpack and loaded it with food and his gun, just in case.  
“Alright, let’s start hiking.”  
Gordon lead them down an overgrown path that was nearby into the dense forest. The path was a bit muddy from the snow but Gordon didn’t think anyone was bothered by it. Benrey had found a large stick which he had given to Sunkist after acting like it was a sword for a short while. Bubby and Coomer had their hands intertwined while they took in the scenery. Darnold was collecting leaves and flowers in his lab coat pockets, Tommy would occasionally put a small flower or two behind Darnolds ear.  
They soon came up on a small opening by a waterfall that fell from a cliff. The waterfall fell into a stream, Gordon was surprised it wasn’t iced over completely.   
“This is beautiful.” Darnold said, smiling at Gordon.  
“I found this spot a few years ago but I didn’t have a group to go with until now.” Gordon smiled and put the bag down by a few large rocks they could all sit on.  
Tommy took the blanket off the basket he held and laid it down next to the stream and placed the basket down in the middle of the blanket. Tommy and Darnold sat down, Tommy opening the basket to hand Darnold a sandwich.  
“Oh, are those flowers for me?” Darnold pointed at the bouquet that remained in the basket.  
“O-of course!” Tommy took them out and handed them to Darnold, a soft blush forming on his cheeks.  
“You’re so kind Tommy… I was scared that you guys wouldn’t want to accept me when your dad brought me back from the dead.” Darnold looked to the side.  
Tommy scooted closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.  
“I would never not accept you Darnold.” Tommy nervously met his eyes.  
“T-thank you Tommy…” They both shared a smile, Tommy felt brave enough to ask,  
“Darnold, do you want to maybe go out sometime?” Tommy grabbed Darnolds hand, mostly to keep himself from shaking too bad. The rest of the science team watched from the rocks they sat on intensely.  
“Well I… I’ve never been asked out before but, I think it would be nice to, have you as a partner Tommy.” He fumbled his words.  
“I was so nervous Darnol! I, I really thought you’d say no.”  
“How could I say no to you?” He laughed lightly.  
Benrey, Bubby, Gordon, and Coomer all high fived in success.   
“What’s the plan for the rest of the day Gordon?” Coomer asked.  
“Well, I don't really know, we could explore more? I haven’t decided yet.” He said, cleaning up after they all finished eating lunch.  
“We should uh, have a stick fight.” Benrey suggested with a smirk. Gordon rolled his eyes at the idea, putting his bag on his back.  
“No, I’m not having one of you get hurt out here. How about we hike a bit more, it’s really beautiful out here and I want you guys to see it all.”  
“I like that idea Gordon, it’s very nice out here.” Darnold said as Tommy and him walked over.  
“Okay well, I don’t want to be out too long since the sun sets pretty early but, let’s go ahead and cross the stream.”  
Gordon led them into the forest and up the mountain a bit. After about an hour of walking, they found their way to where the waterfall came from.  
“Wow Gordon this is very high up!” Tommy said, looking out over the trees.  
“Well, it’s not as high as the mountain itself.” Gordon turned to look back at the large mountain behind them.  
“It’s quite the view Gordon.” Coomer said, looking over the side of the cliff.  
“Be a shame if you uh, fell.” Benrey said, looking at Gordon with a smirk.  
“Don’t, say shit like that.” He laughed nervously.  
“Oh come on Gordon It’s just morbid humor you chicken head!” Bubby mumbled, looking around.  
Gordon sighed and sat on a rock nearby. He was pretty tired, he wasn’t used to waking up so early anymore. He let them take in the view a bit more before standing,   
“We can see more tomorrow, I think we should probably head back to our tent. I’ll be dark faster than it seems.  
Everyone nodded in agreeance and they made their way down the cliff and back to the camp. Gordon was right, the sun started to set just as they arrived back at their tent. Gordon grabbed some firewood he had stored in his truck and put them in the fire pit, using a match to attempt to start the fire. He grumbled in frustration when it didn’t work. Bubby noticed and smiled, walking over.  
“Need a light?” Gordon chuckled,  
“That’d be helpful.” Gordon stepped back a bit, giving Bubby room.  
Bubby with whatever powers he had lit the fire and smirked,  
“Great work Doctor Bubby!” Coomer smiled, walking over to them.  
“Professor.”  
“Doctor!”  
“Professor…”  
“Yo we got, marshmallows!” Benrey called from the tent, grabbing the bag from the cooler.  
“I forgot I brought those, well. Everyone has to go find a stick first then we can toast the marshmallows.”  
“Sunkist already found some sticks!” Tommy said, grabbing 6 sticks from Sunkist’s mouth and handing them to Gordon.  
“Thank you Sunkist.” Gordon gave Sunkist a pat on the head, the dog woofing in response.  
Gordon handed everyone a stick before they sat around the fire. Gordon taught everyone how to place the marshmallow on the stick and then how to toast them over the fire. Bubby, of course, put his in the fire and let them catch on fire before blowing it out and eating it.  
“Tomorrow night we can tell ghost stories.” Gordon said, toasting his last marshmallow for the night.  
“Aren’t those scary Gordon?” Tommy asked.  
“Well of course.” He chuckled.  
“Why uh, not tonight?” Benrey asked, he had three Marshmallows on his stick.  
“Well, I think we’re all quite tired. We had to wake up pretty early.” Benrey nodded.  
They all finished their last few marshmallows before Gordon dumped fome water from his water jug on the fire.  
“Lets rest up tonight, tomorrow will be another adventure.” Gordon smiled, he felt so much happiness at that moment.   
Everyone went to the tent and their sleeping areas for the night after saying goodnight to each other. Gordon sighed and changed into his sleeping pants and a sweater for the night before Benrey came in.  
“Ha ha, naked man.” Gordon huffed, finishing putting his sweater on.  
“I was shirtless, there’s a difference, a big difference.” Gordon laid down on the air mattress and put his glasses to the side.  
Benrey joined him after taking his shoes off. Gordon smiled and warmly kissed him.  
“Did you put the coolers in the room we aren’t using?” Benrey nodded, he still got speechless after they kissed but at least he didn’t explode with bubbles anymore.  
Gordon slipped off Benrey's beanie and ran a hand through his hair, smiling at the softness. The two were entangled in one another's arms, keeping each other warm. IT was calming until a noise disturbed them. It was a shrill cry that echoed from miles away but Gordon recognized that noise. He shot up in a panic.  
“You uh, okay Gordon?” Benrey asked, propping himself up on his arms.  
“Did you not fucking hear that?”  
“Wha…?” The cry rang out again.  
“That.”  
“It uh, doesn’t sound good that’s for sure.”  
Gordon knew it sounded familiar but he couldn’t put his mind to what it was until he heard the zipper to their room unzip.  
“G-gordon did you hear that?” Tommy said, peeking his head in. Benrey let out a few light yellow notes so they could see each other.  
“We both did. It sounds, familiar?”  
“That’s because it is! It’s… It’s a peeper puppy!”  
“Very funny… I think it’s a fox or something-” The cry rang again and this time Gordon could hear the distortion in its cry, it was otherworldly.  
“Holy shit… No way. This, this is a fucking joke right?” Tommy shook his head,  
“I don’t believe so Gordon…”


	15. The Worst He Brought

“Are the others awake?” Gordon slipped his sweater on.  
“No, I… I made sure not to wake Darnold.” Gordon nodded and gripped Benrey’s hand.  
“How… What…” Gordon couldn’t muster the words to ask why the hell aliens from a fucking video game had come into the world.  
“This isn’t uh, poggers.” Gordon turned to Benrey.  
“I don’t want to sound harsh, but Benrey if you had anything to do with this I-”  
“Yo uh, calm down?”  
“Benrey don’t you e-”  
“He’s right Gordon! C-calm down.” Gordon inhaled sharply before sighing.  
“Okay… So do either of you know what the hell is going on.”  
“Yeah…” The two said simultaneously,  
“What? And neither of you told me?”  
“We didn’t want to cause panic Gordon! We thought maybe… My dad wouldn’t actually go through with this plan…” Tommy responded, looking at Gordon. Benrey stayed silent, turning from the two.  
“What does Benrey know…” Gordon turned to Benrey. Benrey responded with a small beam of sweet voice.  
“Aloe green zing means he knows everything… B-but Gordon we should pressure him to talk! H-he didn’t do this! It was clearly my other dad!”  
“He could have warned us…” Gordon got up and pushed past Tommy,  
“I need a breath of fresh air.” He muttered, leaving Tommy and Benrey alone.  
Tommy joined Benrey on the bed, no words exchanged. He knew Gordon was going to be upset but he didn’t want him to take it out on Benrey.  
“I wasn’t expecting him to take it out on just you Benrey! I-i’m so sorry…” Tommy finally said. Benrey turned his head to Tommy, all his eyes staring at his friend. Tommy smiled a bit, he knew about Benrey’s eyes and besides, it wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d seen him do. Benrey sang in his sweet voice to communicate to Tommy, he was too nervous that he’d break down if he spoke.  
“I know Benrey, but he’s not going to leave you! He wouldn’t do that!”  
Tommy watched Benrey think for a moment before opening his mouth again.  
“It’s okay Benrey! I’ll take care of it! I’ll fix this… just, don’t let him know about… Y-y’know.”  
Benrey nodded, sticking out his hands,  
“Hug?” Tommy nodded and pulled him into a hug.  
“I’ll fix this Benrey! Don’t you worry!” Tommy got up and went to find Gordon.  
Gordon had gone outside to look at the sky, his hands were in his pockets while he kicked at some rocks.  
“G-gordon.”  
“Yeah?” Gordon said with a grunt.  
“I-i know you’re upset but… We didn’t want to panic everyone, we thought… maybe… it wouldn’t actually happen! We thought maybe he wouldn’t have enough left over power to do this.”  
“Yeah, I get that part but what is ‘this’?” Gordon turned to him, an aggressive look in his eyes.  
“P-plan X… He had a backup Gordon! It… It’s like he knew you’d come back for us.” Tommy sighed, pausing for a moment. A peeper puppies howl could be heard miles into the forest.  
“It’s a bit long to explain but… I’ll do my best…” Tommy sat on the ground and patted the ground next to him. Gordon rolled his eyes and sat.  
“M-my dad well, planned for if you came for us. He planned on there being, well, something like the machine you have. B-benrey told me about the rest s-since he was there after I left! So he heard the rest of the plan b-but he had nothing to do with it directly! I promise!”  
Gordon could only nod.  
“H-he told me about h-how he noticed the machine almost instantly when it came onto the computer! H-he watched you extract Coomer and learned Gordon! He then learned that he could extract Xen a-and the alien creatures f-from the game!”  
“H… How did you find that out even?”  
“Benrey watched him! E-even though he was banished he could still watch…”  
“So… The game wasn’t being deleted, it was being… Exported…” Tommy nodded as Gordon recalled watching as Xen turned into a black void.  
“Y-yes Gordon… I… I assume his death activated his final plan like, like a bomb!”  
Gordon nodded, drawing in the muddy ground below them.  
“I still think you two should’ve said something, that’s a bit reckless…” Gordon said, turning to Tommy,  
“But I forgive you, and Benrey too…” Gordon looked back towards the tent.  
“Tommy, with your new powers, I don’t know if you figured them out yet but… Do you think it’s possible to track the location of the aliens? Is that even something you can do?” Tommy thought for a moment,  
“If I think hard enough I think I can! I, really don’t know what my dad could do but, if he always knew where we were in black mesa then… I bet he could trace any entity!” Tommy shut his eyes while Gordon watched them move behind his eyelids as if he was searching through his brain, which he was.  
Tommy couldn’t explain it, and really no one could but it was like a ship’s radar that could pick up any entity that moved.   
“I only sense Peeper puppies right now Gordon.” He opened his eyes, Gordon couldn’t help but notice the yellow tint to his eye color that only appeared for a second.  
“How far are they? How many?”  
“I only picked up 5 and they’re miles into the forest but, I don’t think we should be so calm…” Tommy sighed.  
“How do we get to Xen?” Tommy closed his eyes again.  
“Nothing’s registering…”  
“Probably uh, go through a portal. Like uh, old times hm?” Gordon jumped, so did Tommy, at Benrey’s sudden appearance. All his eyes were staring back.  
“Jesus dude… You need to stop doing that…” Gordon held a hand over his chest. Benrey remainded silent.  
“I’m sorry… Son’t be mad at me okay? Just, your past and al, y’know…”  
Benrey sat down with the two,  
“It’s uh, okay bro.” He held Gordon’s hand.  
Tommy explained the situation to Benrey.  
“That’s not pog… Uh, so like what’s gonna be at Xen if it isn’t me?”  
“Probably some big ass alien demon mother fucker.” Gordon grumbled.  
“Yo like me?”  
“More ugly.” Gordon looked at Benrey and smiled which earned him a smirk from the Eldritch being.  
“Is it morning already?” Gordon looked behind Benrey to see Coomer stepping out of the tent.  
“Oh! No Coomer we’re just havin’ a little pow wow.” Another Peeper Puppy interrupted Gordon’s words.  
“What the hell was that?” Bubby suddenly appeared at Gordon’s side, looking at the sky.  
Gordon sighed and stood, “It’s a peeper puppy or, at least, a pack of them…”  
“What?” Bubby asked, snapping his head to Gordon.  
“Yeah, I know. It sounds insane but, guess it looks like we’re going back to what we know.” Gordon continued to explain everything Tommy had just told him.  
“Gordon… I’m scared.” Gordon sighed,  
“I am too Dr. Coomer… This isn’t just about us now though, it’s about the world. If I’m correct, there’s a second Half Life game and if I’m correct the resonance cascade caused a worldwide spread of aliens or something like that. I don’t know what Tommy’s dad had planned, but if he has something planned like the resonance cascade, this could be bad. Really bad. But I don’t think that’s his plan, I think his plan is to come for us and only us.” The group nodded in agreeance.  
“How different will it be here Gordon?” Coomer asked. Gordon took a moment before speaking,  
“I don’t know… I really don’t but we need to find some protective gear. I know you lot were pretty indestructible to aliens in Black Mesa but, I don’t think that’ll work here… Let’s worry about that all tomorrow okay guys? You guys are safe with me.” He smiled.  
“Hug?” Benrey said after Gordon was done speaking.  
“Group hug.” Gordon replied and the group came in for a tight group hug.  
“Lets try and get back to sleep, Tommy make sure you fill Darnold in.” Tommy nodded and they all went back to their sleeping areas.  
Gordon sat on the side of the bed and held his head. Benrey sighed softly and sang to Gordon, Gordon didn’t understand still but, the soft colors were soothing. Benrey joined him at his side,  
“I’m uh, here for you bro. Gonna, give you a little lullaby cause, cause you’re a little baby…” Gordon rolled his eyes and placed his head on Benrey’s shoulder.  
“You’re safe in my big ol’ arms bro.” He chuckled, wrapping his arms around Gordon.  
Gordon didn’t respond, he had fallen asleep on Benrey’s shoulder. Benrey smirked and kissed Gordon’s head, laying down with Gordon on his chest. Benrey continued to sing softly, not able to fall asleep because he was in fear harm would come to Freeman and he would do anything, and he meant anything, to keep his lover safe.  
Coomer and Bubby were up too, the situation made the two uneasy.  
“Didn’t… Gordon say we would permanently die in this world?”Coomer suddenly spoke.  
“I believe so…” Bubby sighed and wrapped an arm around Coomer.  
“What if… Something happens to us Bubby?”  
“Don’t say that Harold.”  
“It’s a possibility we have to consider…”  
“We don’t have to because we won’t die.”  
“Bubby, I know it’s depressing but’ again, it is a possibility.” Bubby sighed and hugged Coomer tightly, kissing the side of his head.  
“At Least we’ll both die with a ring on our finger hm?” Bubby muttered, earning a small laugh from Coomer.  
“I won’t die without you by my side Professor.” Bubby smiled warmly and held Coomer close, sighing.  
“We’ll all be okay, I’m sure of it.” Bubby really wasn’t sure, but he hated thinking about that kind of shit.  
The two pulled the blanket Gordon had given them over themselves and cuddled against each other to keep warm.   
Tommy had accidentally woken Darnold up when he re-entered their room.  
“Tommy? Where were you?” Tommy sat on Darnolds side of the bed and looked at Darnold,  
“It’s a long story, I- I didn’t mean to wake you Darnold…” Darnold sat up, stretching.  
“Oh, it’s alright Tommy, I’m up for a long story.” He held Tommy’s hand and gave him a smile although he probably couldn’t see it in the dark.  
So Tommy then sat and explained what the hell was going on and that they were probably going home tomorrow.  
“Is Gordon okay? I know you all have been through this but, these things seem to take a toll on him.” Tommy laid down next to Darnold,  
“I think he’s okay but, I really couldn’t tell. I’m sure Benrey’s keeping an eye out for him though.” He smiled a bit. Tommy thought the two were absolutely adorable.  
“Hm, well I’m glad to see they found love. If I remember Gordon at least was quite hateful of the goblin.” They both chuckled.  
“Hey, Darnold? I’m, I’m really glad you want to go out with me and be my, my boyfriend.” Darnold rubbed his thumb over Tommy’s knuckles,  
“Of course Tommy! How could I pass on such a great opportunity to be with my first and only crush?” Tommy felt his face grow warm.  
They laid in silence, Darnold still rubbing Tommy’s hand.  
“Do you want to cuddle? I-I see the others do it all the time.” Tommy asked nervously.  
“Oh, well, it’s something we can try…”   
The two awkwardly scooted closer to each other, Tommy wrapped an arm around Darnold and brought him close to his chest to hold him. It was a pleasant feeling and although Tommy couldn’t feel different temperatures really, he felt the warmth from Darnold. It was pleasant to have someone other Sunkist curled up with him. Sunkist currently slept at the edge on the mattress with a stick he had found on the hike earlier.  
Benrey stayed up all night, sleep wasn’t ever a think he needed but he felt like he needed it today. He had stayed up all night worrying, not just about Gordon but about himself,  
Something wasn’t right.  
Something was missing from him and he knew it.  
Something bad and he knew deep down it had to do with Xen coming into their new existence in Gordon’s world.


	16. The Science Team

“Did you stay up all night again?” Gordon asked as he opened his eyes to Benrey’s claws around him. The anomaly had grown in size, he took on a more… snake-like from. Or at least his neck that was wrapped around him had. That shit still gave Gordon the chills. Benrey unraveled himself and went back to ‘normal’.   
“Wha…? Oh, yeah. Gotta protect uh feetman from the scaries.” Gordon took a moment to study Benrey’s face, he looked like he had been crying all night.  
“Dude are you okay? You look like you’ve been balling your eyes out.” Gordon sat up and placed a hand on Benrey’s pale face.  
“Psh… no.” He said bluntly.  
“What’s wrong. You can tell me, I know I’m not the only one who has issues.”  
Benrey took a moment to think before he spoke,  
“Something doesn’t feel uh, poggers. Y’know? Something feels not cool, not great.” Gordon brought Benrey close, laying back down with him in his arms,  
“I didn’t feel like this the other morning… So I like, know somethings up? Like uh, somethings really wrong.” He paused again, Gordon looked to the side,  
“Do you think it had something to do with the way the game file was?”  
“Wha…?”  
“Well… If G-man took the file from the game to export it, and assuming you did some weird coding shit to it prior, it could’ve transferred here along with Xen…” Benrey took a moment to think about what Gordon had said.  
“I uh, deleted the old boss and uh made myself the new one. Course it uh, caused a bunch of wacking glitches but I was there, I made myself big ol’ Benrey y’know? So my like, player model or whatever was in the file or whatever. The only thing like, original was the passports. I brought all that like, with me. But those uh files were destroyed with you all blew them up.”  
“You don’t think… There’s another Benrey do you?” Benrey shrugged,  
“That uh, seems reasonable.”  
“But that’s not possible… The machine can’t make multiple copies of the same character right? That’s gotta be dangerous…” Gordon fumbled in his bag for his phone.  
Two bars, good enough.  
Gordon pulled up North’s number.  
“Well if it isn’t Gordon! How goes it friend?”   
“Good good… I had a question, what would happen if you tried to bring two of the same character into the world?” Gordon could hear North stand and open a book which he assumed was the original copy of the guide to the machine.  
“Well I, don’t know for sure. Do they have the same ai?”  
“The ai was copied into a boss file and the model replaced the boss model if that makes sense.” North thought for a moment,  
“It could tear a model appart after time… I hate to say this but, one of them must die or they will both be killed by whatever force tears them apart.”  
“Well, I only wanted one here anyways…”  
“Sounds like you have a lot on your hands… do you need any help?”  
“No, I think I’ll be alright. Thank you North, I’ll keep in contact.” Gordon hung up and looked at the floor.  
“Yo you okay bro?” Gordon shook his head, putting his head in his hands. Benrey sat up and scooted over to the edge of the bed,  
“What uh, happened man?” He put an arm around Gordon.  
“We need to get to Xen. We need to find a way there fast, we need to go there no matter what. I need to go there at least.” Gordon rambled.  
“What’s happening bro like, what’s going on?”  
“If there is another Benrey in Xen and we don’t take care of him you could fucking die.” His voice broke.  
“I’m not goin’ anywhere bro I’m like, fine.” Gordon shook his head,  
“Because there’s two of you, there’s a high chance if we don’t take care of the other Benrey you’ll die. You’ll be torn apart Benrey! That’s why you don’t feel okay, don’t you get it?!” He started to raise his voice.   
“Calm down, please?” Benrey sang out yellow before it shifted to blue. Benrey tried to keep his cool.  
“Sorry…”  
“Yellow to blue means he doesn’t want to lose you.” Gordon jumped at the sound of Tommy's voice.  
“T-thank you Tommy… Did I wake you up? I’m sorry…” Tommy smiled,  
“No need to be sorry Gordon! I thought we should all get up as early as possible t-to prepare!” Gordon smiled a bit, leaning his head on Benrey’s shoulder.  
“Can you… give us a moment Tommy? Go ahead and get the others up oaky?” Tommy smiled and left them alone.  
“I’m sorry I raised my voice, I just… Can’t bear the thought of losing you, again…”  
Benrey thought of making a snarky comment but he held back and tightened the grip he had around Gordon’s side.  
“We’ll go kill this imposter alright? I’ll be a-okay.” He smiled a bit.  
Gordon nodded, sitting up.  
“Let’s get the hell out of here…” He muttered.   
They shared a gentle kiss before leaving their area of the tent. Tommy had successfully gotten everyone up and packed already.  
“The situation is a lot more drastic now… Benrey’s life is on the line. We need to get to Xen and get there as fast as humanly possible. Tommy I want you to start tracking any alien life and anything other worldly that you can find okay? Darnold are you able to make potions here if I get you materials?”  
“I believe so, I can make you a shopping list.”  
“Perfect. I’ll leave you and Tommy at home to work, Bubby and Coomer are with me and Benrey. We’re going to find protective gear. Something tells me this battle won’t be as easy as it was.” The group nodded in agreeance.   
Gordon started working on packing the air mattresses while Benrey worked to disassemble the tent. The others prepared a quick breakfast before loading the coolers. Gordon's mind was focused on one thing and one thing only, no one and he meant no one was going to kill or even touch his Benrey, especially not Benrey’s copy.  
“Gordon, I have to ask, when did your arm come back?” Darnold had come up to Gordon while he was deflating a mattress.  
“Oh, I never lost it in real life.”  
“Oh, right. Tommy told me that, how silly of me… But, that follows my next question… Will you be needing a machine gun for a hand?”  
“Well, I’d rather have my hand after the battle, not a machine gun.”  
“Well, I could make you something that, well, comes out of your arm.”  
“Woah, is that safe?”  
“I believe so, Tommy can always make you a new arm and hand.” Gordon thought for a moment. That machine gun really helped them during the original Benrey battle.  
“Add what you need for that to a list and I’ll pick it up today.” Thank god Gordon had been saving his stream money.  
Gordon finished loading the tent and mattresses into his truck and rounded up everyone into the truck and started the drive home.  
“Tommy what’s your radar picking up.” Gordon asked, glancing in the back mirror.  
“ Nothing new yet. The peeper puppies seem… seem to be in a cave!”  
“Okay, good. We don’t need this to be public.” Gordon didn’t know how to feel about the situation but it was best he didn’t panic.  
Gordon got the team home, everyone helped to unload the truck and put everything away before Bubby, Coomer, Benrey and Gordon left in the truck.  
Gordon looked at the list Darnold had given him and rubbed his face,  
“Looks like we’re taking a trip to home depot and the drug store first.” He started the truck.  
“‘Drugs aren’t cool Gordon! We shouldn’t be shopping for them.”  
“Oh, it’s not bad drugs Coomer, we call places with pharmacies in them drug stores. Actually, I really don’t know why they’re called Drug stores.”  
“Another advertising trick, Gordon!” Gordon laughed a bit, driving to Home Depot.  
The group drove around, collecting supplies for their battle. At Home Depot they picked up the hardware Darnold needed, along with some gasoline for Bubby. At the drug store they picked up the rest of Darnolds list. They then stopped by a sporting goods shop which sold some airsoft vests that Gordon bought for them all. Gordon got himself a respiratory mask, he knew the others could breath whatever toxins the alien world had for them but Gordon didn’t know how well he’d survive without a HEV suit.   
“Gordon, shouldn’t you get a full bodysuit just like the one in Black Mesa?” Coomer had a point. He needed to atleast get something that would cover his whole body.  
“That’d be wise but, I don’t know what-” He remembered seeing a pretty hefty airsoft suit. It would drain his bank but, he couldn’t risk touching anything the aliens had brought here. With only a few looks from the cashier, they checked out and left to go home.  
Gordon’s phone rang suddenly,  
“Benrey, can you answer it?” Benrey nodded and grabbed the phone from the cup holder, answering,  
“Yo.”  
“Gordon?”  
“Tommyyy”  
“Oh, hi Benrey uhm. Is Gordon there?”  
“Put it on speaker, we can all hear then.” Benrey pulled the phone from his ear and looked at the buttons and eventually found the speaker one.  
“Alright Tommy, what’s up?” Gordon asked.  
“Well… nothing good. There’s more alien life! I… I think there’s a Black Mesa Golem monster in the forest and, and they’re on their way here!” Gordons heart sank.  
“So it looks like we need to get assembled by tonight and find these fuckers find us.” Gordon muttered.  
“How fast are they coming?” Bubby asked.  
“Not very professor Bubby!”  
“Well that's pog.” Benrey smiled a bit.  
“Well, we’re home now. Come help us unload okay?” Gordon said, pulling into the driveway. Benrey hung up the phone and the team got out of the truck. Tommy and Darnold came out of the house and, along with Sunkist, helped to unload Gordon’s truck. Darnold set up his laboratory on Gordon’s kitchen table, using an old chemistry kit Gordon got as a gag gift a few years ago.  
“How long will your potion mixing take.” Gordon asked Darnold as he sat in the arm chair in the living room.  
“Not long, only about an hour for everything.” Gordon nodded. That hour was spent with the others resting while Gordon sat in the armchair watching tv, Benrey tightly held in his arm. He started to notice Benrey periodically glitching when he shifted in his sleep. Gordon hoped that the glitching wasn’t painful for him.  
“Done.” Darnold finally said.   
Gordon stood, laying Benrey in the chair gently and joining Darnold at the table.  
“How do I take the one you’re giving to me?” Gordon asked. Darnold handed Gordon a vial of brown sludge.  
“I hate to say it but, you have to drink it Gordon.” Gordon held a gag as he sniffed the concoction. He stared at the vile for a bit before downing it. He tried not to choke as it went down his throat, the taste was god awful. Soon the taste wasn’t the only thing his mind was focused on. There was a sharp pain in his right arm that eventually trembled through his body. He bit his shirt and held groans of pain. It felt ungodly, it felt like he was going to die. His vision went black for a moment but he quickly regained it and the pain went away.  
“Shit.” Is all Gordon could mutter out. His arm was sore but not like it had been a moment ago.   
“Are you alright Gordon?” Darnold placed a hand on his shoulder.  
“Yeah…” he sat up and looked at his arm.  
“It doesn’t look like anythings changed.”  
“Form a fist, the rest should feel natural.” Gordon let his right hand form a fist and the top part of his arm seemed to open and a mini machine gun emerged.  
“Holy shit.” Gordon let go of his fist and the gun retracted.  
“Just like back at Black Mesa hm?” Gordon chuckled,  
“Yeah, feels just like it I guess.” Benrey had woken up from his nap and was watching Gordon with a smile on his face.  
“Yo, Gordon uh gunman.” He said groggily.  
“Good to see you’re up…” Gordon smiled at him, “Thank you Darnold, could you go wake the others?” Darnold nodded while Gordon sat on the arm of the chair, running a hand through Benrey’s hair.  
“How are you feeling.”  
“Uh, kinda like shit. My head hurts.” He said, leaning on Gordon a bit.  
“You were glitching in your sleep, you scared me…” He put an arm around Benrey and sighed.  
“I love you.” Benrey said and coughed, holding his chest.  
“I love you too… Jezz are you alright man?” He looked at Benrey, concerned as he coughed out an untextured bubble.  
“That’s uh… Not normal.” He chuckled a bit.  
“We need to get this shit done and over with…” Gordon stood and went to the spare room.  
“I hope everyone rested enough.” There was panic in Gordon’s voice as he stood in the doorway.  
“What’s wrong Gordon?” Coomer asked, the group was getting ready.  
“Benrey isn’t okay. I don’t think we have a lot of time, maybe three days but, this is bad and we need to get moving tonight.” Gordon left the room to change into the airsoft outfit with the mask. For extra precautions he used black duct tape around the gloves and sleeves. He threw the duct tape in a bag and brought the bag to the kitchen table. Benrey had made his way to the guest room and grabbed a blue button up, some jeans, and his vest, going to the bathroom to change. The others wore their Black Mesa attire with the vests Gordon had bought. Benrey came back, helmet in hand with a smirk on his face,  
“Road Trip!” He said in his high voice followed by a cough and a smirk.  
Looks like the Science team was officially back together, and nothing was going to stand in their way.


	17. X̴̡̛͕̦͎͑͆͗̌͜͜͜͠ẹ̶̓͒̀n̶̝̼̻͖̞̗̞̠͔̯̓̽͋͌̈́͛̽͝

Gordon packed some food and water into his backpack, along with a first aid kit. He planned for the worst to happen, he didn’t know how well they all would do with the aliens in a real situation. The team died so many times in Black Mesa but back there respawning was a thing. Another issue was the topic of Darnold fighting.  
Gordon handed Darnold his shotgun, “What do I do with this?” He asked,  
“You’ll need something to defend yourself from the aliens… I assume you’ll be our healer basically but, it’s for safety precautions. You shouldn’t have to kill any humans like back at Black Mesa, but this is life or death. You can’t chicken out of this one.” Darnold took the gun and wrapped it in the strap of the satchel Gordon had given him to carry his potions.  
“Tommy, what’s the radar looking like.” Gordon asked as everyone piled into the truck.  
“The Golem is near the peeper puppy cave!”  
“Any head crabs yet? We’ll have to be super wary of those.”  
“Nothing right now Gordon.”  
Gordon started to drive, he kept an eye on Benrey who sat in the passenger seat, balled up against the window. He sighed to himself and placed a hand on his thigh to comfort him a bit. He was colder than normal and more pale, he wasn't holding up too well.   
“How are y-” Before Gordon could finish his sentence, Benrey hacked up a storm of Sweet Voice onto the floor of his truck. He coughed and wiped his mouth.  
“That’s uh, never happened.” Gordon tried to keep his attention on the dirt road so he didn’t run into any trees.  
“Drink some water dude.. I don’t assume that tasted good.” Gordon handed him a water bottle. Benrey’s hand glitched as he took it.  
“Yeah it uh, tastes like really fuckin’ bitter man.” He muttered, opening the water bottle and chugging half of it.  
“Maybe we should have let you stay home Benrey, I don’t need something to kill you before we can save you.”   
“Don’t say that shit.” Benrey snapped, “I’m like, fine dude. I’m fuckin. Wonderful.” He looked at him angrily and then back out the window. Gordon sighed, knowing he shouldn’t get mad back.  
“This is as far as I can drive us.” Gordon parked around where the campsite was.   
“I’ll lead the way Gordon!” Tommy said, pistol already in hand as he hopped out of the truck.  
Coomer and Bubby had their powers to defend themselves, Gordon had his gun arm and Benrey, well he was Benrey.  
Gordon fixed the respirator and helped Benrey out of the car.  
“Dude I can-”  
“You need to save your energy for the battle later… I think we’ll need you more than ever.” Gordon put a hand on Benrey’s cheek and looked at him. Benrey nodded a bit and used Gordon as support while they walked, following Tommy into the forest. Gordon made sure to keep an eye on the path ahead, he didn’t want to run into any issues before they got to where Tommy was leading them. They all stayed silent as they followed Tommy and the light of Gordons flashlight.   
You could hear the creaking of the Golem echo through the trees.   
“Tommy, how close are we?” Gordon asked, glancing at Tommy slightly.  
“Very close Gordon!” He whispered, slowing the walking pace.  
Benrey let go of Gordon and continued on his own. Gordon made sure to keep an eye on Benrey, catching him when he stumbled or began to glitch out. It was horrifying if Gordon was being honest.  
“It’s up there.” Tommy said, pointing to a rocky cave that sat halfway up the mountain’s path.  
“I hope everyone has proper shoes on.”   
“Don’t worry Gordon! That’s, that’s not needed!” Before Gordon could say anything, the team was at the top of the mountain, a few feet away from the cave. Tommy’s eyes were yellow, a few yellow flowers growing at his feet.  
“Holy sh-” Coomer covered Bubby’s mouth, shushing him.  
“Oh my god Tommy when did you learn that?!” Gordon muttered.  
“It was one of my dad's powers.” He smiled, leaning over to pick one of the yellow flowers at his feet and promptly placing it in Darnolds hair.  
“Damn Tommy fuck it up.” Benrey held a cough after speaking, placing a hand over his mouth.  
“So what’s our plan of attack?” Gordon crouches with the others.  
“We’ll have to take down the pups first, they’re at the front of the cave sleeping. Our attack will wake the golem in the back of the cave.” Tommy said, opening his eyes.  
“I’ll go in first and burn them.”  
“Wonderful idea Bubby!” Coomer smiled.  
“That’s actually probably the best way, we may have a chance of sneaking up on the Golem then.” Gordon said.  
“They’ll probably shriek when they burn, there has to be a quieter way.” Darnold said.  
“Leave it to good ol’-” His face seemed to melt into black sludge for a moment before contorting back to normal, “Benrey.” He coughed into his shoulder, muffling it.  
“Benrey no that’s a bad idea…” Gordon put a hand on his back.  
“I’ll take em out bro it’s, it’s okay.” He smirks a bit and leans on Gordon, mustering the power to summon 5 of his skeleton clones.  
“They won’t uh, know it’s us. Good ol, distraction.” He covers his mouth and coughs.  
“His clones Gordon!” Coomer smiled.  
“I know Dr. Coomer… Benrey be careful dude.” Benrey watched his skeleton brothers go forth.  
“Won’t you feel their pain?” Darnold asks.  
“Nah bro.” Benrey leans on Gordon.  
“Fascinating…” He rubbed his chin.  
Tommy closed his eyes to track the signals of the pups and the skeletons.  
“It should be safe now.” Tommy said, opening his eyes. Benrey closed his eyes, seemingly calling the skeletons back to where he was with a beam of red sweet voice.  
Benrey must’ve seen the confused look on the faces of the others,   
“Just uh, callin’ the boys back.” He smirked, Gordon held a laugh. At Least Benrey knew how to keep the mood happy.   
“Alright let's move in.” Gordon stood and led the others into the cave.  
They could hear the Golem creaking awake as they walked in.  
“Do we keep him in here, or do we lure him out?” Darnold asked, turning to Gordon.  
“Keep him here, just don’t collapse the cave on us.” Gordon looked to the darker area of the cave.   
Bubby already knew what Gordon was turning to him for, he let his hair catch fire, providing them with enough light to see the golem now staring directly at them.  
“That’s new.” Benrey said. The Golem was just as confused as them it seemed.  
“Gordon, I think we should-”  
“Run!” Tommy cried, ducking behind a rock with Darnold. Gordon, Bubby, and Coomer ducked behind another but Benrey didn’t move, he wasn’t afraid as the golem towered over him.  
“Stop. Please?” The Golem ape seemed to understand but raised its hands to attack anyways.  
Gordon peaked out from the rock and ran in front of Benrey, even though he wasn’t in the line of the attack. He aimed with his arm gun, hitting the Golem in the eyes before it could manage an attack. He knew the rocks wouldn’t be able to withstand the Golems power. Gordon wasn’t about to be down a whole fucking team like that. The Golem took a moment to realize what had happened. Gordon took the moment to urge the others to join them. Gordon didn’t know what a blind Golem would do, but it couldn’t be good.  
“Gordon what the fuck is it doing?” Bubby asked as the Golem slowly started to walk in a circle.  
“Uhm…” He watched as it sped up. “Shit, get down!” Gordon said, basically face planting into the ground as the Golem let it’s fiery heat emit from its claws as it continued to spin. The heat went right above them.  
“What the fuck do we do now?!” Bubby yelled. Benrey seemed like he was about to do something, Gordon held him down, eyeing him.  
“I-I can do something!” Tommy called, looking up from the dirt.  
“Tommy you’ve already done enough, don’t wear yourself out.” Gordon looked back to Tommy.  
“I’ll be okay!” Tommy held out his hands towards the Golem.  
“Fuck it up Tommy!” Benrey called, looking back at Tommy.  
“I-I’ll try my best!” Tomy focused his eyes on the spinning Golem.  
Gordon watched as Tommy’s hands became tense and suddenly, Tommy was on top of the Golems head, firing a round into its skull.  
The team watched as Tommy reloaded the gun, staying on top of the Golem as it violently shook its head. Gordon could tell Tommy would be able to keep his balance much longer and the Golem wobbled, the beams of heat getting closer to the ground. Gordon aimed for the Golems chest. The beams seemed to die out as the Golem fell over, still spinning. Tommy fell to the ground, thankfully avoiding a pile of rocks that was dangerously close to him. Darnold rushed to his aid. Tommy was out of it, but responsive.  
“Are you okay? Oh what a silly question.” Darnold murmured, helping Tommy to his feet, fixing his hat.  
“I think I hit my head a bit.” Tommy responded, “But I’ll be alright.” Darnold wiped blood from the side of Tommy’s face, he must’ve cut his head open or something.  
“We need to keep moving! There’s other signals from the cave.” Tommy held the side of his head a bit.  
“Tommy I think we should doctor you up first.”  
“I-It’s okay Darnold, I’ve had worse. The only major damage it did was, well, I can’t see my radar as well... “ Tommy looked at the others.  
“If we bandage it-”  
“It won’t make it better, it’s, it’s an internal thing Gordon.” Gordon sighed, watching Darnold as he continued to wipe blood from Tommy’s face.  
“Everyone follow Tommy, Bubby are you okay to keep yourself on fire.”  
“It’s natural Gordon, of course I’m okay.” He huffed, walking over to Tommy, arms crossed.  
“Alright… well…” Gordon walked, dusting himself off. Benrey was pretty quiet all of a sudden.  
“You alright?” Gordon muttered to Benrey.  
“Uh, no.” He scoffed. “Shoulda like, let me fight.”  
“Benrey I’m not going to argue with you, but-”  
“What you did was pretty pog.” He shrugged, glancing up at him before coughing, doubling over. Gordon held him up.  
“This is why… I didn’t need you to strain yourself.” Blue sweet voice seemed to come out of his mouth but the bubbles turned to blue sludge as he threw up.  
“Benrey!” Tommy rushed over.  
“Wha…?” His face pulled and contorted as he looked up.  
“Tommy keep leading the others. We don’t have as much time as I thought.” Tommy stood for a moment, concern on his face, before rushing back to the group.  
“Come on dude… don’t, don’t fizzle out.” He held Benrey and slowly walked with him, staying behind the group a bit.   
“I’m fine bro.” His voice was starting to glitch, any color he had in his face was gone.   
“Keep telling yourself that…” Gordon was basically dragging Benrey along at this point.  
A faint green glow came from a cavern up ahead of the group.  
“Gordon, you know I’m terribly-”  
“Shit, I-I know Coomer but I didn’t put it there! Don’t,” He groaned. “Don’t go near it! Any of you!” They had fallen too far behind. Gordon picked up Benrey bridal style and ran to catch up with the others. Benrey was so out of it he couldn’t even mutter a joke.  
Sure enough, the team had come up to a cliff in the cave that overlooked a pond of the green sludge. Worst of all, one of those damn sharks was clearly swimming around in it. Gordon made sure his mask was on tight.  
“No one touched that shit, alright?” Gordon said looking at everyone.  
“How the hell do you expect us to get over there?” Bubby said, looking to the other side of the cliff.  
“Ropes!” Gordon looked up and, to his dismay, there was at least 10 barnacles attached to the ceiling.  
“Coomer, no. Those will fucking kill us!”   
“How else are we supposed to get across.” Bubby said, backing up Coomer. Tommy was working on shooting them down.  
“The Golem…” Gordon said, looking down at the shark.  
“It’s dead, idiot.” Bubby snapped.  
“I know!” He snapped back, “I know… The body, that thing is tall enough to reach across.”  
“I can teleport us!” Tommy said.  
“No, we don’t need to make your radar even more fuzzy and I have a feeling teleporting won’t do that any good.” He turned to Coomer, “Think you can run back and grab it.  
“Certainly Gordon!” Coomer took Bubby with him as he rushed back to where they had been.   
Gordon looked at Benrey, making sure he was still breathing. His yellow eyes looked back at him.  
“Hey buddy…” He kissed him softly, Benrey managed to return it.  
“Yo. It’s, it’s me!” He coughed into Gordon’s chest.  
“It is… it… it is.” He rested his head on Benrey’s helmet.   
“Don’t get my uh, helmet wet bro.” He muttered with a weak laugh.  
“I love you…” Gordon smiled, kissing Benrey again.  
“I love you too.” Benrey said against his lips.  
Benrey was cold… God he was so cold…  
“Hello Gordon!” Gordon looked up quickly, eyes wide as he saw Coomer drag in the Golem.  
“Hey Dr. Coomer…”” He sniffled a bit, blinking away his tears.  
“Are you alright Gordon?” Bubby asked. Gordon just shook his head and stepped out of the way of Coomer as he dragged the corpse to the cliff edge.  
Gordon sat against the cave wall, his arms needed a break from holding Benrey in his arms. He watched as Coomer swung the body like a rope to the other side of the cliff. The weight of the Golems head kept it sturdy. The sudden movement seemed to rhile the shark up though. It started to snap it’s jaws at the air. Gordon stumbled to his feet, holding Benrey.  
“Go one by one.” Gordon said, watching as they all lined up to make their way across the corpse bridge.  
Coomer was first, shit he made it look easy. Bubby followed, Coomer kept reminding him not to look down, Gordon forgot about his fear of heights. Tommy was next, then Darnold who needed some egging on by Bubby.  
“You can do it Gordon!” Tommy called as Gordon stepped onto one of the Golem’s legs. Benrey actually helped him keep his balance as he made his way across.  
“Look out Gordon!” Gordon looked at Coomer.  
“What?”  
“The shark dumbass!” Bubby yelled.  
The shark had jumped out of the green goo, latching onto one of the Golems legs. Gordon tossed Benrey to the other side, not thinking, not caring. He felt the Golem slip as the weight was offset by the shark.  
Gordon didn’t know what to do.  
“Tommy!” He yelled. He didn’t know why he yelled for Tommy but shit it worked.  
Before Gordon could blink he was face down on the gravel floor of the cave, safely on the other side, Tommy holding his arms. Gordon blinked a few times as he sat up, brushing gravel off the side of his face.  
“What was that Tommy?” Darnold asked.   
“I-it’s what I did with the Golem!” He helped Gordon stand.  
“Yeah, what was it? I told you not to use your powers.” Gordon said, fixing his glasses back onto his face.  
“That was life or death Gordon! I had… I had to stop time.” Tommy said, letting go of Gordon.  
“So that’s what that was… Where’s Benrey?” Gordon asked frantically.  
“I caught him with my big strong arms Gordon!” Coomer said, smiling. Sure enough, Benrey was safely in Coomers arms.   
Gordon walked over and took Benrey back into his arms, cradling him a bit.  
“Tommy how's your radar?”  
“It doesn’t have much more time… It’s really fizzling out Gordon!”   
“What lies ahead…” Gordon asked, fixing Benrey's helmet  
“I… I think a portal… I can’t tell…” Tommy said.  
“It’s okay Tommy, don’t worry about it.” Gordon reassured Tommy.  
Tommy smiled, he really appreciated Gordons kindness.  
“Well what are we waiting for?” Bubby said, looking at Gordon.  
“Does anyone need anything before we-”  
“Road trippp” Benrey said weakly, interrupting.  
“Alright. I’m taking the lead.” Gordon said, looking to a long tunnel up ahead.   
Gordon kept Benrey close to him as he walked down the tunnel with the team following. The group came into another large cavern, a single portal lit the room. Gordon paused for a moment, looking at it. No one interrupted the silence, it was a feeling they all shared now. Dread and sorrow.  
Coomer and Bubby stood, holding hands while they faced Benrey and Gordon. Darnol and Tommy faced each other, entangled in a tight hug for a moment before they turned to Gordon and Benrey. Gordon had placed Benrey on his feet, he had one arm wrapped around him, the other on his pale face. For a moment, Gordon’s mind was empty but memories poured in and tears flooded his eyes. He remembered every single moment from Black Mesa and onwards. Meeting Benrey, meeting the others, the hatred, the love, the final and eventual death of Benrey before he came to his world with the others.   
He remembered how it felt to realize he was absolutely in love with Benrey, he remembered their first kiss, the day he snuck into his truck and sang for him. He turned to the others,   
He remembered everything,  
he remembered Coomer and Bubby asking him to help with the wedding,  
He remembered everything,  
He remembered bringing Darnold back to the house, and watching love spark between him and Tommy fall in love all over again it seemed.  
He remembered everything,  
He remembered Tommy calling him dad.  
He remembered…  
He remembered those first words Benrey said to him,  
“I’m not human.”  
For a moment, he swore he heard another heartbeat other then his own come from Benrey, he flipped around to Benrey,  
“You are human…” Benrey blinked, confused as Gordon held his face,  
“Benrey, you’re human. You’re no different than any of us, you’re you! You, you know that now? We’re all human no matter what fucking abilities we have.”  
Gordon didn’t know why he brought it up but, he knew his words made Benrey realize how needed he was in that moment and how much he mattered.  
“Benrey you’ve always been human, always! You’re, you! Just because you’re you that, that doesn’t mean you’re any less human…” Gordon saw the color return to Benrey’s face.  
“And god, I love you for being you…” Gordon ended his rambling with a warm kiss on Benrey’s lips.  
Benrey seemed to regain a bit of his strength, he was able to keep himself up. He had degraded himself since he knew of his own existence but, today he could finally say he felt like he finally belonged. He contorted a bit but, he didn’t pay attention to the pain as his eyes focused on Gordon’s. Maybe this was the best embrace he would have with Gordon and he wanted it to last.   
Nothing mattered, to anyone, at that moment. They all enjoyed each other's embraces.   
“Sunkist!” Tommy yelled suddenly as the larger Golden retriever walked into the cavern. No one bothered to ask how he had gotten there.   
Everyone gathered around the dog as Tommy kneeled down to hug the dog. Eventually, the group joined in on the hug. It was the best group hug yet.  
“You can’t stay here Sunkist…” Tommy tried to keep his composure as the dog licked his face,  
“You’ll… You’ll always be my perfect dog. Even, even if I don’t come back! Don’t don’t give up.” He said to the dog. It let out a soft bark in return, before seemingly disappearing.   
Tommy whipped his tears and stood,  
“Let’s… Let’s go fuck shit up.” He said with a smile. Benrey cackled in reply.  
“Group photo!” Coomer said, pulling a dollar store camera from his pocket.  
“Great idea Dr. Coomer.” Gordon sat down on the cave floor, Tommy and Darnold crouched next to him. Bubby leaned on Gordon’s head while he stood next to Coomer and Benrey laid down in front of the group on his side, one hand on hip and one holding his head up. Coomer extended his arm out and counted down before snapping the photo.  
“Alright, lets do this before the world is fucking destroyed.” Gordon said, standing.  
The others followed as he approached the portal. Gordon took a deep breath.  
“Don’t fuck with the science team!” Gordon heard Coomer say as he stepped into the portal.  
It was a carbon copy of what they’d seen before, minus the huge Benrey floating in the void, and Bubby was there with them this time. Gordon led them through Xen with the power of his arm gun mostly, he wanted the others to conserve their power for now. It was nice to have Benrey back, well sorta back. It was obvious he was still holding up pretty poorly.   
Alien after alien, Gordon killed them all with nothing but hatred and determination. HE wanted to rain hell on this dimension once and for all. Benrey’s glitching got worse as they advanced but shit was he a trooper. Contortion after contortion came his way but it didn’t stop him in his tracks like it had earlier.   
Soon the team came to the final boss portal. They stood in awe at it for a moment.  
“This is it.” Gordon said.  
“It, it sure is Gordon.” Tommy stuttered, looking at the enormous portal.  
“Yo I remember this!” Benrey said, joining Gordon at his side, gripping his hand. The glitching had started to leave missing textures behind, god it had to be painful but Benrey didn’t let it show.  
“I also remember this Benrey!” Coomer said, “This is where I told Gordon I would like to live in Super Punch Out!!! For the Nintendo Entertainment Center!”  
“This is amazing, I’ve only heard stories of this place.” Darnold said, looking around and gathering alien rocks.  
“I don’t have any fucking idea is in there.” Gordon said, gripping Benrey’s hand tightly.  
“Well let’s go find out!” Bubby said, walking towards the portal.   
Gordon sighed and jumped into the portal, pulling Benrey in with him. The tem landed in the water and looked at what was before them.  
Sure enough, it was another Benrey model. Gordon still held Benrey’s hand, at least you could tell the real Benrey was missing textures and the fake one wasn’t.  
“Does it speak…?” Gordon said, looking up at whatever it was.  
“No.” It responded, Gordon’s anger suddenly grew.  
“Forzen.”  
“Can you guys fuck off.” Gordon’s need for revenge only grew.   
First G-man took Darnold, now Forzen. Any sorrow Gordon felt for Frozen was gone though.  
“Gay man said he could keep me alive and my beyblades so I like, took his offer to make sure if he didn’t kill you lot I’d do it. Well here we fucking are. I really didn’t want to do this, I wanted to relax and shit but guess that has to wait. You always fuck shit up Freeman.”  
“That’s pretty dumb.” Benrey said, looking up at Forzen with a smirk.  
“He said you’d be the easiest target and look at you, all fucked up. That’s what you fucking deserve. We used to be friends.” Benrey’s mouth shifted to a frown.  
“We never were friends.” His voice was breaking again. Gordon looked at Benrey,  
“Don’t kill youself… Keep your power contained…” He turned to Forzen,  
“How the hell do we kill you.”  
“Break my beyblade.” Gordon blinked,  
“Seriously?”  
“It’s my boss shield.” Gordon grumbled profanity under his breath. This was ridiculous.  
“Fine.” Gordon let go of Benrey’s hand, Benrey took that as a symbol to step back, let the others do the work y’know?  
“Let it rip!” Tommy said, cocking his pistol.  
A grin was plastered on Forzens face as he pulled the giant size beyblade and launcher from his pocket.  
And thus the fight began. Frozen disappeared after letting the beyblade go. The spinning top had a mind of it’s own. It went straight for them. Coomer stopped it with a large boulder, giving them time to hide behind a rock pillar.  
“Great work Dr. Coomer!” Gordon said, hearing the top hit against the other side of the pillar.  
“We need higher ground.” Gordon thought out loud, their cover was starting to break.  
“The trampolines!” Tommy said, pointing to the odd alien trampoline that was a few pillars away.  
“Perfect! We need to atleast get Benrey up there…” Gordon smiled at Benrey who was holding himself up against the pillar. Before Gordon could say anything else, the pillar broke, falling forward. Coomer luckily caught it.  
“Run!” Darnold cried, the group ran for the trampoline. Coomer stayed to hold the broken pillar up but the top was strong.   
Gordon rushed to help get Darnold and Benrey up. There wasn’t enough room on the small cliff for them all but they could sit one more.  
“Tommy go up there.” Gordon said, urging Tommy to get onto the trampoline.  
“No! I. I have a personal vedeta with this man!”  
“Then Bubby, you go?” Bubby shook his head, keeping an eye on Coomer.  
“Just leave the two up there! We can all fight, the more of us there are the better chances we have of finishing this shit!” Gordon sighed and nodded. He was right.  
Gordon fired at the top and jumped onto the trampoline, flinging himself into the middle of the area.  
“Come here you fuck.” The top's attention was clearly on Gordon now. It gave Coomer a chance to ge a better hold on the pillar, Bubby rushed over to help. The top began to spin towards Gordon.  
Tommy fired a few shots at the tp next and it stopped for a moment, making sure it kept it’s balance. Gordon and Tommy kept the top confused, each taking turns egging it on. Gordon could tell Coomer and Bubby had a plan.   
Gordon started to get antsy, he could tell the top was starting to catch on. It had started to wobble towards him.  
“Coomer! Bubby!” Gordon could feel the wind from the top.  
“We’re working on it!” Bubby yelled. Gordon was backed up into a pillar, no where to run now.  
“Now Harold!” Gordon looked to the two scientists.  
Coomer, with some help from Bubby, threw the pillar at the bottom of the top, knocking it over. Gordon dived out of the way just in time.  
“Holy shit guys!” Gordon laughed, oh god was he scared.   
There was a bright flash, look who's back. Frozen.  
“No! My Beyblade!” He grabbed the top and stuffed it back in his pocket.  
This is for Sunkist!” Tommy didn’t let Forzen say anything else, he fired his pistol at one of Forzens’ legs.  
“Owwwuh.” He complained, he pulled his gun from his back and fired it into the ceiling of the large cavern.   
They all covered their ears, dodging chunks of rock at the same time. It all suddenly stopped. He was out of ammo.  
“That’s a problem.” He muttered.  
Gordon let him have it, he started to fire constant rounds into Forzens chest. It barely seemed to affect him. Coomer and Bubby took on their technique of throwing fiery rocks at Forzen. Frozen swatted them away to the best of his ability. They were all constantly dodging Forzen’s large hands and feet, Gordon had a few close calls.  
But it only takes a few close calls until something happens.  
Benrey had been watching the whole time, but when he watch Forzen his him out of the air like a baseball something inside him snapped.  
Benrey’s form drastically changed. He jumped down from the small ledge and began to grow in size, shifting to his monstrous form. Half of him was still human, the other half wasn’t. He was at least 4 feet taller than Forzen in his current form. The others stepped back and watched as Benrey hashed it out with Forzen.  
Benrey latched his monster arm to Forzens with rows upon rows of teeth before he used that one arm to pick Forzen up and slam him into the floor. He took on his full monster form then, arm still latched to Forzen who was barely holding on. Benrey gave a toothy grin in his odd monster form before bringing a claw down onto Forzens face, slowly crushing in his skull.  
He then tossed the now large lifeless corpse into the air and it seemingly disappeared. A simple ending to literal hell. The snake-like mess of Benrey made his way over to where Gordon laid limp in the water. He cradled him in a claw and his eyes began to shed tears or sweet voice and he sang, the same song he had sang for Gordon when they watched the sun set. The colors made the same colors of the sunset. Benrey became his normal self, he was no longer a glitchy mess either. He laid in the water with Gordon, crying on his chest, holding Gordon’s motionless hand against his face with his own hand hoping for some kind of movement.  
Darnold had joined the others now, they all stood back and watched Benrey hold Gordon.  
He suddenly threw off his helmet and screamed, still crying out the colors of the sunset.


	18. Reanimation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! School started back up so I won't be posting as often but I'll be active with your comments! I love you guys!! Alsoi'dlovetoseefanartjustfyi.

Gordon Freeman was pronounced dead by his friends at midnight on February XX XXXX.   
No.  
This wasn’t acceptable.  
This isn’t going to be the end.  
This is not the final chapter in this story.  
They were scientists, they knew they could do something.  
Benrey knew his soul was still in his body, they hadn’t lost him yet.  
Benrey knew.  
Everything else seemed to blank from Benrey’s mind other than the fact that he needed to save Gordon. He picked up the lifeless corpse. Lifeless… no, that wasn’t right. Benrey knew a simple human like him needed his heart beating to be considered alive but Benrey also knew a soul could keep a being alive too.  
The science team followed Benrey’s lead, no one spoke as they left Xen, making their way back to Gordon’s truck. Benrey sat in the back this time, Bubby was the only one who had experience with driving so he was assigned to the driver seat. Coomer sat up front with him while Darnold and Tommy sat on either side of Benrey with Gordon sprawled across them.  
Cause of death was due to bleeding in the brain or whatever fancy shit Darnold had said. Not poggers. Guess it caused brain damage or somethin’. Benrey had died before and he came back, surely he could do that with Gordon. Benrey started to process ideas, staring at Gordon.  
The brain needed to be preserved like a game file, guess the brain damage was like corruption. That’s not fun to mess with, but Benrey knew how to fix corruption. Sorta. Benrey carried Gordon inside and to his room. He placed him on the machine after setting it up, there was a way to revive him. There had to be.  
The rest of the science team watched Benrey work from Gordon’s bed.  
“Maybe we should leave him be…” Tommy said out of the blue.  
“NO!” Benrey said harshly, his face contorting as his head flipped around to look at Tommy. Tommy inched back on the bed out of fear.   
Nothing fucking mattered to Benrey other then Gordon… Oh god Gordon why did you have to fucking leave like this? Benrey sat in his computer chair and looked through files. Right, the files were deleted. Benrey knew how to start from scratch though. Luckily, Gordon’s 3D body was on the software of his VR gear, pog. Benrey copied the model into an empty file. He then began to write code for Gordon basically, almost like an AI code but broken, just like how Benrey’s code was broken. Benrey took a lot of what he knew and used it to, well, create Gordon in a file. He made sure the file for his brain was just an add on of sorts, something Benrey could go back and edit missing pieces into. It was all complicated, to be honest Benrey barely understood what he was doing as he typed out code and such.   
Benrey had gone to the length of creating a mock up of what he did to bring himself back and used it as reference for Gordon. This wasn’t a short process but Benrey knew he was working against time, and time was sure to permanently take his Gordon if he didn’t do anything. It took hours to type and transfer everything and make sure everything was perfect.  
Eventually, Tommy, Darnold, and Bubby had gone to the guest room to rest, only Coomer reamined. He sat in silence, watching Benrey the entire time as he worked. He was fascinated by Benrey if he was being honest, he enjoyed the sight of the sweet voice and the different colors it came out as. He didn’t bother to know the rhymes but he knew the colors that currently filled the room were that of sorrow and heartache.   
“Turn on the machine.” Benrey said softly, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.  
“I must suggest one course of action before we do that. We should call that friend of his and make sure this is the right course of action.” Coomer was right, that “North’ guy might have some pretty detrimental information.  
Benrey stood and grabbed Gordon’s phone from his pocket, looking for the contact and calling it.  
“Gordon? It’s late isn’t it?”  
“Uh, yeah. Do you know if like, uh, you can add things to people with the machine? Like putting a game file in em basically?”  
“You sound… different Gordon is every-”  
“Yeah bro, we chillin’.”  
“Right… Well, I haven’t tried that on a human but it worked on my wife, I forgot part of her brain file. There’s a switch on the machine, switch it to where it says “Reanimation”. I couldn’t think of another name, my apologies.” Benrey hung up and went to find the switch then hooked up the machine to the computer and plugged it in, he then dragged the file into the machine file.  
The machine made a deep, mechanical start up noise and then a few lazers came from the tips of the machine onto Gordon’s corpse. Benrey stayed in the chair, watching the machine work.  
“You’re doing a wonderful thing, Benrey.” Benrey sighed and took off his vest,  
“Uh, thanks bro… It’s my job to protect good ol Feetman.”  
“Thats a big job.”  
“I’m a uh, big guy.” Commer smiled a bit. He hadn’t interacted with Benrey much before and he regretted that a bit. Benrey had done so much for the team, he felt like he was the only one who didn’t talk to him on a day to day basis.   
The two watched the machine in silence, well, for a moment. Benrey, unable to hold in his emotions, began to weep. His tears came out as dull colored sweet voice, the same colors they were when he had cried in Xen when he realized Gordon was dead.   
Commer scooted to the end of the bed and put a hand on Benrey’s shoulder. At first, Benrey flinched away but he eventually relaxed, it was comforting to feel warmth. The two stayed that way for an hour until the computer said the file was complete and the machine shut off. Benrey promptly rose to his feet and walked to Gordon, kneeling by him.  
“Hey bro… You uh, you alive?” For a moment, the room was only silent till suddenly a hand grabbed Benrey’s leg followed by Gordon letting out a gasp for air.  
“Benrey!” He coughed and looked at him, still trying to catch his breath.  
Benrey helped him sit up, holding his shoulders, “Hey, yo, breath man it’s, it’s okay.”  
Benrey ran a hand through Gordon’s hair, he felt cold still, why? He was supposed to be warm.   
“Oh god Benrey…” His voice was groggy, he weakly hugged Benrey.  
“I was dead… What, what happened?” He looked at Benrey,  
“You uh, were…” He continued to play with Gordon’s hair, “I brought you back bro, don’t worry you’re uh… all patched up. The new patch of Feetman just came out and you uh, have it in you.” Gordon let out a small chuckle followed by a cough.  
“You brought me back?”  
“Yeah, just used the uh machine bro.”  
“Oh wow, how’d you manage to do it? I mean, it’s pretty easy to get it working right?”  
“Took a bit. Let’s get you on the bed.” Benrey helped Gordon stand and brought him over to the bed so he could be more comfortable, he was clearly in pain.   
“Hello Gordon, how are you feeling?” Coomer turned to face him on the bed.  
“I feel like shit honestly… Everything hurts...” His voice was still raspy.  
“I started by uh, finding your model in your VR files. I had to like, make a skeleton version of my file since I like, know, how to make myself y’know? So I used it as an uh, example. Blah blah blah I made sure like, your brain was ok but like, if you don’t remember shit I can uh put it back in your brain. Made a file for it.” Gordon took in Benrey’s words and laid in silence for a moment.  
“If you used your file as an example… Does that mean I might have some of the same… aspects as you?” Gordon sat up a bit.  
“I uh, guess? That would explain why you’re so like, cold. Gordon cold man.” Gordon rolled his eyes.  
“That’s going to be weird.” Gordon muttered. His head was pounding, his body ached.  
“I love you.” Benrey said, leaning over to Gordon and placing a kiss on his head.  
It took Gordon a moment to remember that they were dating. The brain damage wasn’t as major as everyone thought.  
“I love you too.” Gordon pulled Barney into a kiss and a tight embrace.  
“I’m so sorry, I was weak…” Gordon mumbled into Benrey’s shoulder, holding back tears.  
“Wha…? You weren’t weak bro!”   
“You were anything but weak Gordon I can assure you that.” Coomer chimed in.  
Gordon smiled, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.  
“Shit…” Gordon Leaned away from Benrey and coughed but he felt something come up his throat and then out of his mouth. It was blue sweet voice.  
“What the fuck?” Gordon said, staring at the blue mess of bubbles on his bed.  
“Oh shit uh, that’s not human.” That was the only thing Benrey could say, he didn’t know he had copied that to Gordon.   
“Benrey what did you do?” Gordon asked, holding his mouth.  
“I think I like, copied part of my brain into the like corrupted parts of yours. Think I made you like, part Benrey bro. That uh, explains you being all cold.”  
“That also explains the sweet voice Gordon!” Coomer said, “Only Non-Humans can make the Black Mesa Sweet Voice!” Gordon sat up fully.  
“Non-humans… Benrey, what exactly are you?” Benrey shrugged,  
“I uh, dunno. I’ve been called an eldritch being or somethin’ like that.”  
“Eldritch is an English word used to describe something otherworldly, weird, ghostly, or uncanny.”   
“Thank you Coomer. So how much of my brain was corrupted?”  
“Not like, too much but like, I used the best parts of my brain for yours bro. You deserve the best bro…”  
Gordon held in his anger, it wasn’t Benrey’s fault, it was no one’s fault. It wasn’t on his bucket list to become some anomaly like Benrey but at least he was alive.  
“Thank you Benrey… This is just really fucking weird okay? So you need to teach me how your head works alright?” Gordon grabbed both of Benrey’s shoulders.  
“I’m just like, happy you’re alive…” Benrey looked to the side, “Where do you uh, hurt?” Benrey looked Gordon over.  
“Well, the back of my head does but so does my chest.” Gordon started to undo the top bit of the airsoft suit he was still in. He let it fall to his waist and then lifted his tanktop. Most of his chest was bruised, along with most of his back, nothing was broken surprisingly but his back definitely should have been.  
Gordon pulled down his tank top and sighed, “Nothing painkillers can’t solve. You should’ve given me the part of you that can’t feel pain.” Gordon chuckled.  
“Oh uh sorry about that bro. I could like, put it in your brain?” Gordon shook his head,  
“No, no more of that machine unless we need it. Can you go unplug it actually.”  
“I can Gordon!” Coomer stood and unplugged the Machine then came back to the bed.  
“Where are the others? Oh god are they okay?” Gordon’s voice was full of panic.  
“They’re fine don’t uh worry bro.” Benrey played with Gordon’s hair, it was so soft, Benrey adored his hair.  
“Oh thank god.” Gordon laid down.  
“Gordon? How… How did it feel to die?” Coomer asked, looking at Gordon.  
Gordon paused for a moment to think back to the events that had happened. He remembered it was painful, but that was about it.   
“At the moment it was painful, everything was blurry and fuzzy. The last thing I remembered was seeing Benrey grow but then everything got really, really fuzzy and then I felt myself blackout. I felt myself still in my body but I felt like I was suffocating. I knew if I really wanted to I could let myself pass over, but I stayed in my body letting myse;f suffer. It felt like I was trying to sleep underwater.” He recalled.  
“That sounds horrible Gordon.” Coomer put a hand on his shoulder and sighed,  
“I wish I could have protected you, we… We all do.” Gordon smiled,  
“Hey, it’s no one’s fault! We couldn’t predict I would die, don’t blame yourselves. I’m alive now, that’s all that matters.” He patted Coomer on the back.  
“I think after all of this we should plan your wedding Coomer.” Gordon chuckled and laid back down.  
“What about your wedding Gordon?” Gordon blushed a bit and looked at Benrey,  
“O-oh I haven’t even thought about proposing yet…”  
“Yo me either but uh, now's the time huh?” Benrey cackled a bit.  
“We’ll talk about it after Coomer and Bubby’s wedding.”  
“I’m sorry benrey, you’ll just have to wait till after my wedding to propose to Gordon.” The three laughed.  
“We’ll take one thing at a time for now.” Gordon smiled, looking at Benrey a bit. Proposing wasn’t such a bad idea, was it? Even though it was so early in their relationship. Gordon could see himself growing old with Benrey, he didn’t know if he could even grow old anymore after what Benrey did. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing though, living forever with everyone was a nice Idea, especially Benrey. Maybe Gordon could get a better job or stream more to get more money so he could afford a larger house. He did make a good amount of money off streaming though.  
“I think you should uh, get some rest.” Benrey said to Gordon, continuing to play with his hair.  
“That doesn’t sound horrible. I assume Coomer hasn’t rested either huh?” Coomer nodded and stood,  
“Well, I’ll leave you two be, and tell the others the wonderful news that you’re alive!” Coomer happily left the room, shutting the door behind him.  
Benrey laid beside Gordon and stared at him,  
“What?” Gordon muttered.  
“I just uh, missed you.” Benrey sand a few notes of sweet voice after finishing his sentence.  
Gordon ran a hand through Benrey’s hair, watching as all his eyes slightly opened to look at him, “I missed you too Benrey. I missed you a whole lot.” They shared a kiss.  
“Guess I gotta teach you how to handle your uh, sweet voice bro.”  
“Oh, right. Hey does that mean I’m immortal?” Benrey thought for a moment,  
“Yeah, I think I uh copied that part bro.” Gordon smiled,  
“So I can live forever like you guys…” Gordon kissed Benrey again. Being immortal made him so fucking happy.  
“Yeah man! We’re uh, BBBBBBEldritch buddies bro!” They shared a small laugh and another kiss, resting their heads against each other.  
“I love you so much Benrey…” Gordon felt himself starting to doze off, “Now I’ll really never leave your side.”


End file.
